neo-feudalism
Modern wealth hierarchy
Neo-feudalism describes a modern social arrangement resembling medieval feudalism—vast wealth concentrated among a small elite while the majority own little and depend on powerful institutions for survival.
Critics use the term to characterize economies where corporate landlords, tech giants, or billionaires function like feudal lords: The gig economy's independent contractors are serfs in a neo-feudal system.
The term usually carries negative connotations, suggesting erosion of middle-class independence and return to rigid class hierarchy.
Rule by the rich
- oligarchsWealthy few who govern
- dynastic wealthFortune spanning multiple generations
- magnatesWealthy, powerful industrialists
- monopolistsSole market controllers
donor class · tycoons · kingmakers · wealth hoarding · political dynasties · gatekeepers · cabals · conglomerates
Subordination to a lord
- servitudeCompulsory labor under masters
- bondageInvoluntary subjugation to another
- peasantryRural working class
- subjugationForcing into submission
tenantry · dependency · gig workers · precarity · indenture · debt bondage · wage slavery · peonage
Economic inequality measure
- stratificationDivision into distinct levels
- classismPrejudice by economic rank
- gated communitiesEnclosed neighborhoods with controlled access
- caste systemHereditary class division
housing crisis · digital divide · exclusion · marginalization · disenfranchisement · working poor · wealth concentration · precariat
plutocracy
Rule by the rich
- oligarchsWealthy few who govern
- dynastic wealthFortune spanning multiple generations
- magnatesWealthy, powerful industrialists
monopolists · donor class · tycoons · kingmakers · wealth hoarding · political dynasties · gatekeepers · cabals · conglomerates
vassalage
Subordination to a lord
- servitudeCompulsory labor under masters
- bondageInvoluntary subjugation to another
- peasantryRural working class
subjugation · tenantry · dependency · gig workers · precarity · indenture · debt bondage · wage slavery · peonage · sharecropping
wealth gap
Economic inequality measure
- stratificationDivision into distinct levels
- classismPrejudice by economic rank
- gated communitiesEnclosed neighborhoods with controlled access
caste system · housing crisis · digital divide · exclusion · marginalization · disenfranchisement · working poor · wealth concentration · precariat
neo-feudalismdemocracy
Rule by the people
direct democracy · participatory democracy · popular sovereignty · republicanism · self-governance
neo-feudalismsocialism
Communal economic control
communism · worker ownership · collectivism · meritocracy · social mobility
neo-feudalismegalitarianism
Philosophy of universal equality
social equality · classlessness · anti-hierarchy · social justice · emancipation
feudalism, feudal, feudalistic, feud, fiefdom, neonate, neonatal, neologism, neophyte