Transnational elite communities and the reproduction of inequalities

跨国精英社区与不平等的再现

• 批准号: ES/W007495/1
• 负责人: Katie Higgins
• 金额: $ 32.56万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FW007495%2F1
• 关键词: Transnational; elite; communities; reproduction; inequalities

The richest 1% of the world's population now own more than half of the world's wealth. In this context of extreme and growing levels of economic inequality, we need to 'study up' and examine the role of wealth and wealth holders in creating, reproducing and entrenching inequalities across the globe. However, few studies have yet been able to examine how elites integrate at a global level. This project seeks to identify the role of elite business communities that work within and across the global North and South as they build alliances and circulate ideas, people and capital to shore up advantages. It will do so through an international multi-sited study of three elite organisations and their members. The project will examine three of the leading international business communities in terms of their global reach and their members' economic influence. These organisations are known to run educational and training programmes and to connect economic elites globally, with varying requirements in terms of the minimum revenue of member's companies and the minimum number of employees. The companies run by members of these three organisations employ millions of people and have a combined revenue of trillions of dollars annually. The research will focus on these key organisations in order to better understand two key questions in relation to global elites. First, it will examine the concrete practices through which international economic elites forge alliances and whether this evidences their potential emergence as a class or identifiable group. Second, it will explore the various mechanisms through which these organisations create and reproduce advantage among their members. The project will focus on key elite formations and networks in three urban contexts, Delhi, Johannesburg and London, chosen in order to cover existing and emerging wealth centres. It will pioneer a multi-sited study of elite international business communities in the three cities, comparing their elite formations and mapping the transnational connections between their members. Such insights can help us understand the role these business communities, and related elite organisations that facilitate social or business networks, play in a global architecture that sustains and grows wealth and other key inequalities. Knowledge about how to understand, and thereby more effectively challenge, wealth inequalities is more needed than ever. The existing research on the role of intensifying concentrations of wealth at the top, including by the PI, has provided evidence that economic elites are key engines in the reproduction of inequalities, whether securing the preservation and growth of dynastic wealth with the aid of financial professional intermediaries, or gaining influence through political donations to create a favourable institutional environment. By focusing on three leading international business communities and their networks, the research will allow us to see how ideas, people and capital circulate among some of the wealthiest owners and managers of corporations in the world. The project has been designed in close collaboration with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), a research institute that analyses the social dimensions of contemporary development issues, with the aim of analysing global elite networks and their repercussions for policy. The UNRISD will co-host an international workshop for civil society practitioners, policy-makers and academics at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies in South Africa, and support associated outputs from that event, including a policy-briefing note and blog piece. The project findings will be used to develop further data, tools and strategies for civil society to shape political debate, hold corporations to account and inform the public about elite power, global elite networks and inequalities.

世界上最富有的1%人口现在拥有世界一半以上的财富。在经济不平等现象极端且日益严重的背景下，我们需要“研究”和审视财富和财富持有者在全球范围内创造、复制和巩固不平等现象中所扮演的角色。然而，很少有研究能够检验精英如何在全球范围内融入。该项目旨在确定在全球南北各地工作的精英商业社区在建立联盟并传播思想、人员和资本以巩固优势时的作用。它将通过对三个精英组织及其成员进行国际多地点研究来实现这一目标。该项目将考察三个领先的国际商业团体的全球影响力及其成员的经济影响力。这些组织以开展教育和培训计划并连接全球经济精英而闻名，对成员公司的最低收入和最低员工人数有不同的要求。这三个组织的成员运营的公司雇用了数百万人，每年的总收入达数万亿美元。该研究将重点关注这些关键组织，以便更好地理解与全球精英相关的两个关键问题。首先，它将研究国际经济精英结成联盟的具体实践，以及这是否证明了他们作为一个阶级或可识别群体的潜在出现。其次，它将探索这些组织在其成员中创造和复制优势的各种机制。该项目将重点关注德里、约翰内斯堡和伦敦这三个城市环境中的关键精英群体和网络，其选择是为了覆盖现有和新兴的财富中心。它将率先对这三个城市的精英国际商业社区进行多地点研究，比较他们的精英构成并绘制其成员之间的跨国联系。这些见解可以帮助我们了解这些商业社区以及促进社交或商业网络的相关精英组织在维持和增长财富和其他主要不平等的全球架构中所发挥的作用。我们比以往任何时候都更需要了解如何理解财富不平等，从而更有效地挑战财富不平等。包括PI在内的关于财富集中在顶层的作用的现有研究提供了证据，表明经济精英是不平等再生产的关键引擎，无论是在金融专业人士的帮助下确保王朝财富的保存和增长。或通过政治献金等方式获取影响力，营造良好的制度环境。通过关注三个领先的国际商业团体及其网络，这项研究将使我们了解思想、人员和资本如何在世界上一些最富有的企业所有者和管理者之间流通。该项目是与联合国社会发展研究所（UNRISD）密切合作设计的，该研究所分析当代发展问题的社会层面，旨在分析全球精英网络及其对政策的影响。联合国社会发展研究所将在南非南方不平等研究中心共同主办为民间社会从业者、政策制定者和学者举办的国际研讨会，并支持该活动的相关成果，包括政策简报和博客文章。该项目的研究结果将用于为民间社会开发更多数据、工具和策略，以塑造政治辩论、让企业承担责任并向公众通报精英权力、全球精英网络和不平等现象。