privileged class
Society's favored stratum
A privileged class is a social group enjoying advantages—wealth, education, political power, legal protections—not available to others in the same society.
The term often carries critical weight, implying that such advantages are unearned or unjust: Tax policy increasingly favors the privileged class.
Throughout history, privileged classes have included aristocracy, landowners, and the wealthy.
- aristocracyRule by hereditary elite
- nobilityTitled ruling class
- estateProperty and grounds
- country estateLarge rural landholding residence
- affluenceAbundance of money
cultural capital · glass ceiling · luxury · policymaking · media control · authority · education · wealth · private school · dominance · legal immunity · power · oligarchy · social stratification · lobbying · snob · bourgeoisie · generational wealth
- classessubclass, superclass, underclass, caste, tier
- eliteelite, elites, aristocrats, nobility, best
- upper classaristocrat, nobles, baron, baroness, baronet
- wealthy elitebillionaire, multimillionaire, millionaire, ultra-rich, affluent
- British Classaristocrats, gentry, peerage, commoners, nobility
- elite networksold boys network, old boys club, inner circle, inner circles, cronyism
privileged classworking poor
Employed but below comfort
underclass · lower class · poor · destitute · working class
privileged classmarginalized groups
People systematically excluded from mainstream
disenfranchised · underprivileged · subaltern · second-class citizens · powerless
privileged classproletariat
Laborers lacking capital ownership
working class · peasant class · common people · rank and file