Elites increasingly frame themselves not just by education or role but as 'elite human capital' — an identity that treats people as interchangeable production units and legitimizes technocratic rule while delegitimizing popular tastes and politics. That identity fuels contempt for everyday workers and helps explain why both left and right counter‑elites form with similar technocratic impulses but different answers.
— If elite self‑identity becomes a political axis, it reshapes who is seen as worthy of governance and intensifies cultural polarization and populist backlash.
The article repeatedly uses the phrase 'Elite Human Capital' and details elites' pride in fungibility, disdain for blue‑collar people, and the rise of mirrored counter‑elites on the right.