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Elite (also spelled Élite) is taken from the Latin, eligere, "to elect". In sociology as in general usage, the élite (the "elect," from French) is a relatively small dominant group within a larger society, which enjoys a privileged status which is upheld by individuals of lower social status within the structure of a group. When applied to an individual, as in the phrase "many elites come to this restaurant," the usage quite economically both refers to an individual within that class and establishes the speaker as non-elite.

An elite is the result of economic and political forces within a social structure. Upon formation, societies have always had the tendency to stratify due to a combination of politics and ability. The position of an elite at the top of the social strata almost invariably puts it in a position of leadership and often subjects the holders of elite status to pressure to maintain their position as part of the elite. However, in spite of the pressures borne by its members, the existence of the elite as a social stratum is usually unchanged.

Religious elite

In religion the Latin form "elect" is preferred over the French form "elite" in discussing Cathar or Calvinist theology, for examples, and the social structure that is theologically driven. Other religious groups may use expressions like "the saints" to describe the elect.

Perhaps the most globally recognized of all religious elite reside in Rome: the Pope and the Vatican Assembly. While it is true that the Pope is elected by the college of Cardinals, the cardinals who vote for him are appointed by prior papal decrees. The Pope is himself chosen from among the college of Cardinals. Once elected, the Pope is in "office" for the remainder of his life. While the Christian scriptures say that all men are fallible, a decree was issued that declared that the Pope, while acting in official capacity, is infallible. Recent survey research that has been conducted in recent times by various scholors and institutions have revealed that most catholic believers do not believe in the dogma declaring the Pope as an "infallible." See M. Dogan, "Religious Beliefs in Europe: Factors of Accelerated Decline," in Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Edited by R. Piedmont and D. Moberg, Brill, 2003. However, this does not however change the fact that the official dogma of Roman Catholicism is that of Papal infallibility.

Linguistic elite

Some elite groups speak a language that is not shared by the commonality: in Tsarist Russia and in Vietnam the elite spoke French, in the Philippines the elite spoke, and in many cases still speak, Spanish. In Plantagenet England the elite spoke Anglo-Norman, while Finland was ruled by a Swedish-speaking elite up to the beginning of the 20^th century (though some argue that the Swedish-speaking fraction of the population still enjoys a privileged status) and in Ptolemaic Egypt the elite spoke Koine Greek. (See linguistic imperialism.) Elites establish correct usage for the language when they share one with the commonality. Elite usage is reflected in "prescriptive" dictionaries; common usage is reflected in "descriptive" dictionaries. Elites establish cultural canons, which are more widely agreed-upon within the elite and more generally ignored or resented among the non-elite. In the 1950s, the British elite spoke what linguists of the time called U English.

Political elite

Political elites play a more important role in contemporary societies than any other category of elites. Their recruitment and socialization processes have been discussed in hundreds of academic books. But, the concept of political elites is challenged because many citizens believe that politicians don't constitute a true elite. Recent surveys have demonstrated that in most countries in the world, including many European countries, and particularly in old democracies like Great Britain and France, most people don't trust most politicians, who appear as discredited in many surveys done throughout the last two or three decades (Mattei Dogan Ed., Political Mistrust and the Discrediting of Politicians, Brill, 2005)

Business elite

Elite advantages are the usual ones of a dominant social class: easier access to capital and political power, more rigorous education largely free of indoctrination, resulting in cultural influence, and leadership.

Elites may justify their existence based on claims of inherited position; with the rise in authority of science, certain 19th and 20th century elites have embraced pseudoscientific justifications of genetic or racial superiority. In Nazi Germany, genetic superiority was used as the basis of an imagined "Aryan" elite. Elite classes headed by monarchies have traditionally employed religious sanctions for their position.

Meritocracy is a facet of society that tries to promote merit as a route to the elite. Societies such as that of the United States have it in their culture to promote such a facet [see Horatio Alger]. However, while it tends to be imperfect it sheds light as to what many believe to be the "ideal" elite: an elite that is porous and whose members have earned their position as society's top class.

Aristocracy and oligarchy are social systems which feature an elite as the ruling class. An elite group, ranged round the alpha male, is a distinct feature of other closely-related social primates.

Educational elite

Elites are educated to govern. While common public education is often designed to educate the general population to produce knowledgeable and skilled citizens, the elite approach to education is often presented at a more intellectual and demanding level, and is geared to produce leaders of a sort. It is generally defined at education geared at producing an individual capable of thinking at an intellectual level more advanced than the general population, consisting of diverse philosophical ideals and theories in order to enable the elite to logically evaluate situations.

Financial elite

Wealth isn't a sure sign of elite status, as the "new rich" are frequently seen as arriving from non-elite positions. Neither does an elite necessarily show a sense of public obligation (see noblesse oblige).

Military

A military elite is a unit of soldiers or recruits picked for their competence and put in a special, elite unit. Elite units enjoy some benefits as compared to other units, at least in the form of higher status, but often also higher pay and better equipment. Napoléon's Imperial Guard would be a good example. Note that the word elite in the military sense is fundamentally different from most other uses of the term. A social or societal elite has usually not been picked by anyone except themselves and do not necessarily make part of the elite due to their competence. Military elite units do not exercise any special leadership over other units. In the societal and social sense of the word, the elite of the army is the officer corps, not the elite units.

Elite military

In the military community, it is not considered good resource management if elite units are expected to do the same things as a regular military unit only better, as opposed to special forces that are expected to do other things than regular soldiers. Critics argue that it creates a negative "second class soldier" feeling among the regular units; for example the grenadier and light infantry companies of the 18th and 19th century British Army. Such companies had both a weakening and demoralising effect on the other soldiers of their parent battalions, especially when these companies were detatched from a number of battalions and grouped together to form ad hoc grenadier and light infantry battalions. Furthermore it's argued that an especially competent soldier does more good as an NCO or as just the man who sets a good inspiring example for his comrades.

However, most nations will maintain elite military forces for the purposes of Power projection and for the purposes of expeditionary warfare. The limiting factor in such operations is usually the availability of airlift and sealift assets, rather than manpower, first to get forces in theatre and then to sustain these forces with stores and supplies e.g. Britain in the Falklands War. Such amphibious and airborne forces, usually operating with minimal armor, artillery and logistics support will normally face enemies with superior numbers, prepared positions and interior lines of communications. Under such circumstances the additional effort and cost needed for the selection, training, indoctrination and equipping of elite formations is not only worthwhile, but essential for success.

Historically at times of military and technological change it would have been impossible financially to re-equip the entire army with new weapons at the same time. To maximize the benefit of new weapons, elite units may be formed, who would be superior to the regular troops because of both the new weapons and additional training and expectations. For example, in the British Army the Rifle Regiments were armed with rifles when the rest of the army was equipped with muskets; before them the Fusiliers were the first to be armed with flintlocks when the line units had matchlocks. Armies going through change may need formations familiar with new concepts and doctrines to act in the familiarization and adversary training roles. Such units will naturally perform better than their students; e.g. historically the Panzerlehrdivision and currently the U.S. 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

Occasionally a military formation rises quite unplanned to become an especially comptent military unit. While raised, organized, equipped and using the same operational procedures as its peers a confluence of events, personalities and circumstances create traditions, reputations and an esprit de corps that reinforce each other to lift such units above those peers. Such formations include the original 51st Highland division and the original Desert rats.

In these two cases it can be argued that units with more modern weapons or units that just happen to be better than others are strictly speaking not elite units since they do not consist of individuals picked for especially high competence. However, sometimes the words "elite unit" are somewhat sloppily used to simply imply "unit that is better than other".

Politically elite military

Historically many elite forces have been created and maintained as much for political reasons as for military ones. The leaders feel they need something more politically reliable than ordinary units and create elite units, hoping that the privileges, the extra political indoctrination that such elite forces are typically given and the pride in belonging to an elite will make them more loyal. The Waffen-SS is an atypical example of such a force evolving as it did into a war fighting force.

Typically since the days before the Praetorian Guards such forces have been used as a loyal and militarily competent counterweight to the nations other military forces, to protect the incumbent leadership from coups and putches. For example Saddam Hussein had the Iraqi Republican Guard to keep the normal military in check and the Iraqi Special Republican Guard to keep an eye on the Republican Guard. In Moscow the old Soviet Union used a trinity of elite formations, each carefully balanced with strengths and weaknesses compared to the others, to keep each other in check and to prevent the others from seizing power, MVD Internal Troops (lightly equipped, but experienced from internal security missions, with a reputation of ruthlessness and brutality), KGB Kremlin Guard Force (well trained, led and disciplined but lacking in supporting arms), and elite Red Army Guards units (best equipped, but reliant on conscripts). Such arrangements, though not to the same paranoid extremes shown by the Soviets, are common in non democratic regimes, especially those where the leadership's rise to power relied on military force.

The following descriptions of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps can be seen as typical of the formation, evolution and continued raison d'Êtres of such organisations.

...From the beginning of the new Islamic regime, the Pasdaran functioned as a corps of the faithful. Its role in national security evolved from securing the regime and eliminating opposition forces to becoming a branch of the military establishment...

.....the Pasdaran, whose independent military power acted as a check on any possible coup attempts by the armed forces..... Despite the need for military support, however, the revolutionary regime continued to exercise tight control over the armed forces and to regard them with some suspicion...

....the Pasdaran, under the guidance of such clerics as Lahuti and Hashemi-Rafsanjani, was also "to act as the eyes and ears of the Islamic Revolution" and "as a special task force of the Imam Khomeini to crush any counterrevolutionary activities within the government or any political usurper against the Islamic Government." Over the years the IRP's leadership used the Pasdaran to eliminate opposition figures and to enhance its own position. Using the Pasdaran as a springboard to more important positions, Pasdaran leaders could always obtain access to the Revolutionary Council and Khomeini. For example, President Khamenehi and Majlis speaker Hashemi-Rafsanjani were both former commanders of the Pasdaran.

Library of Congress Country Studies, Iran, Special and Irregular Armed Forces.

Such forces may become little more than social clubs for the societal elites and those seeking advancement through the political system, capable only of bullying unarmed civilians and intimidating the regular military, often failing militarily when tested, e.g. Iraq's Republican Guard. At their worst such forces become an established political caste selfishly guarding and promoting its own privileges and interests, to the point of becoming kingmakers. For example the Praetorians infamously auctioning off the Empire to the highest bidder, the Streltsy first supporting and then trying to depose Peter the Great, and the Janissaries deposing and installing Ottoman Emperors in the 18th Century.

Elites in the military

For many years the British Army, together with the Church, was seen as the ideal career for the younger sons of the Aristocracy, those who would not inherit their fathers' titles or estates. Although now much diminished the practice has not totally disappeared, the slang term 'Rupert' being used to describe such blue-blooded, usually British public school educated, officers. Such practices are not unique to the British either geographically or historically.

The military has always been seen as a means by societal elites to acquire wealth, prestige and power, for example Julius Caesar. Even in modern democracies there are those who aspire to political power who see a few years in military service, preferably away from any actual fighting, as being essential to a political resume.

As a very practical form of displaying patriotism it has been at times "fashionable" for "gentlemen" to participate in the military, usually the militia, to fulfill societal expectations. It has been said that the title "Colonel" was the ultimate fashion accessory for a Southern gentleman.

Elitism

In elite theory as developed by Marxist political scientists like Michael Parenti, all sufficiently large social groups will have some kind of elite group within them that actively participates in the group's political dynamics. When a group is arbitrarily excluded from the larger society, such as in the case of the racism that was widespread in the United States prior to the success of the American Civil Rights Movement, then elite members of the excluded group may form a counter-elite to fight for their group's interests (although they may be fighting for those interests only to the extent they mesh with the counter-elite's interests). Of course, the dominant elite can neutralize the counter-elite through the classic divide-and-conquer strategy of admitting key members of the counter-elite into the elite.

Elitism usually draws envy and resentment from the lower classes and the counter-elite. There are cases where elites arguably use this resentment of an elite to maintain their position. See Communism. The Elite in the United States also use this method of control via popular culture and media influence. Author C. Wright Mills elaborates on this influence in his book The Power Elite.

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 ==Business elite==
-[[Image:Straw_hat_american.jpg|right|thumb|200px|American style [[straw hat]].  Complex social rules can determine when an occasion is sufficiently informal so that a man may correctly wear this hat.]]
 Elite advantages are the usual ones of a dominant [[social class]]: easier access to [[capital]] and political [[power (sociology)|power]], more rigorous [[education]] largely free of [[indoctrination]], resulting in [[culture|cultural]] influence, and [[leadership]].