nakedcapitalism | That said, the World Economic Forum seems especially worthy of
attention, both as a newsworthy event, and as the home ground of “Davos
Man,” a phrase coined by Samuel P. Hunting (of all people) in “Dead Souls: The Denationalization of the American Elite” (2004):
The rewards of an increasingly integrated global economy have brought forth a new global elite. Labeled ‘Davos Men’, ‘gold-collar workers’ or . . . ‘cosmocrats’, this emerging class is empowered by new notions of global connectedness. It includes academics, international civil servants and executives in global companies, as well as successful high-technology entrepreneurs. Estimated to number about 20 million in 2000, of whom 40 percent were American, this elite is expected to double in size by 2010. Comprising fewer than 4 percent of the American people, these transnationalists have little need for national loyalty, view national boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing, and see national governments as residues from the past whose only useful function is to facilitate the elite’s global operations. In the coming years, one corporation executive confidently predicted, “the only people who will care about national boundaries are politicians.” Involvement in transnational institutions, networks and activities not only defines the global elite but also is critical to achieving elite status within nations. Someone whose loyalties, identities and involvements are purely national is less likely to rise to the top in business, academia, the media and the professions than someone who transcends these limits. Outside politics, those who stay home stay behind. Those who move ahead think and act internationally. As sociologist Manuel Castells has said, “Elites are cosmopolitan, people are local.”
“Why don’t they just move?” being the quintessential question of
Davos Man, aspirational or no, or has been until recently. Perhaps now
Davos Man (or, today, Person) is hearing the faint, far-off sound of blades
being sharpened, and is about to display adaptability. Or will, if the
WEF has anything to do with it. If so, that’s interesting and something
to think about. (FOX is already excited; they seem to think that the WEF is going to bring about socialism. Pas si bête.)
In this post I’m going to take a brief look at the WEF’s upcoming
2021 potlatch, dubbed “The Great Reset,” first at its ideological, and
then at its institutional characteristics. As I said, this post will be
quite superficial, since I’m not a global elites maven. Indeed, reading
the WEF site made me feel like I was trapped in a large and luxurious
conference hotel where all the signage was in a language that looked
like English, but wasn’t. So I hope readers will chime in. No yarn
diagrams, please!
