QUESTIONING the SUPER- RICH

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QUESTIONING the SUPER-RICH Representations, Structures, Experiences

Paula Serafini and Jennifer Smith Maguire

Abstract The authors outline how multiple dimensions — historical and contemporary; global and local; political, economic, social, and cultural — inform an understanding of the super-rich. Recent super- rich scholarship is reviewed with regard to three themes: discourses and representations; mechanisms and structures; experiences and identities. The empirical and conceptual insights of the contents are then highlighted, with regard to the significance of discourses of legitimacy, namely, those of meritocracy, civility, and luxury; the intersections of race and class that underpin assumptions about and representations of wealth; institutional and political-economic dynamics, in relation to international financial systems and property markets; and experiences and attitudes, examined via elites’ professional identities and cultural practices. The authors suggest that questioning the super-rich provides an avenue for the study of power in society, how it is reproduced, and how global hierarchies may be shifting. To that end, the articles attempt to make visible the brute force of the infrastructures (politics and policy, cultural and occupational conventions, financial devices and systems) that are occluded by the tendency to focus on the gloss of super-rich lifestyles; to draw attention to the long-term and newly emerging tensions within and between categories of wealth and of elites, and spheres of political, economic, and cultural activity; and to contribute to an understanding of how the accumulation of wealth is perpetuated and excused through discourses of legitimation, structural dynamics, and lived identities. These are much-needed critical interventions at a time of escalating inequality. Keywords discourse, elite, identity, representation, super-rich

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Guardian columnist (Cosslett 2018) with those inequalities locally and globally, A recently demanded, “Are we really and by the difficulties in gaining an “inside going to let the super-rich take all the art?” view” of the machinations and mind-sets, Warning readers about art consultants infrastructures, and ideologies at work buying Picassos in bulk and museum col- in the perpetuation of the super-rich. lections grinding to a halt as art becomes As such, attention tends to shift to the the best performing asset class of the surface: the ostentatiousness of super-rich year, the columnist contemplates a future individuals, their lifestyles, and their accou- “in which only the super-rich get to bask trements. In turn, what remains hidden in the beauty of humanity’s masterpieces” from view are the institutional, ideological, and notes, “I don’t especially begrudge and conventional bases on which rest the them their monopoly on vulgar yachts or reproduction of inequality. With this tacky hotels, but when they start stealing special issue, we suggest that social sci- the art, I’m liable to start rocking back ence has a particularly crucial role to play in and forth while muttering ‘Full commu- enhancing our capacity to grasp and, more nism!’ under my breath.” The piece makes so, to challenge the current situation, by manifest a range of recurrent anxieties and bringing to bear a diverse range of theoret- objections that characterize writings on the ical and methodological tools for under- super-rich, including the division between standing the contingent accomplishment, a mega wealthy elite and everybody else; reproduction, and legitimation of the power changes in global markets and structural relations that sustain and exacerbate the factors that enable extreme accumulations chasm between the super-rich and “the of wealth; fears around the loss of culture rest.” in the face of sheer economic might; and The global economy has been shaped the assumption that the super-rich are for more than five decades by the rise robbing “us,” the 99%, of our cultural of multinational corporations and global heritage. brands, escalating outsourcing and off- Questioning the super-rich — unpacking shoring, and the increasing withdrawal the legitimacy of the hyper concentration of of the state from the provision of a social wealth, unveiling the financial devices and safety net. In the past decade, a protracted systems that make it possible, and laying economic slowdown and austerity mea- bare its consequences and limitations — sures have been accompanied by acceler- could not come at a more timely moment. ating concentration of wealth in the hands As in the above example, there is a general of a few. The statistics on global inequality 15:1 March15:1 2019

sense of the deepening chasm between grow increasingly stark, as marked by • the very wealthy and “the rest,” expressed Oxfam in successive annual reports on and reproduced through their seeming global inequality, suitably timed to coincide monopolization of the good life (and good with the annual World Economic Forum

POLITICS art). The super-rich appear increasingly meeting for global political and business

isolated in a foreign land in which different leaders in Davos, Switzerland. A growing tax regimes and life expectancy outcomes popular awareness of and dissatisfaction apply. And yet, our capacity to grasp the with global and local inequalities have

CULTURAL situation is inhibited, in part by the sheer shaped public views on wealth, luxury,

2 magnitude of the chasm, by the deeply and elites, and given rise to highly visible entrenched “wicked problems” bound up protest movements. And yet, wealth — and

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the myth of wealth — continues to work meritocracy (Littler 2017), as in the case of in unintended ways. The cry of “we are the current president of the United States, the 99%,” as espoused by Occupy and who, despite being born into wealth, pres- other movements for distributive justice, ents himself as a self-made man (Serafini may fuel commitment to the redistribution 2017). These are poignant examples of of economic resources (Chomsky 2012; the complex structural and representa- Piketty 2014; Dorling 2014; Sayer 2015). tional dynamics of wealth: as the majority However, it also invigorates the reproduc- make material adjustments in an age of tion of structural inequalities, through the austerity, the super-rich modulate the defensive measures of the 1 percent, and symbolic language of their wealth. On the the aspirational strategies of those wishing other hand, ostentatious performances to join it. by the super-rich verge on the carniva- At the same time that the gap lesque: the current president of the United between the 1 percent and the 99 percent States (again) in his gold-plated elevator has widened, new groups are ascending (Littler, this issue); a Russian oligarch’s into the elite, from both established and £360 million super yacht (Burford 2017); a emerging economies. In 2016, 55 percent Chinese tycoon shopping with an entou- of the world’s 2,397 billionaires were rage of robot handmaidens (Mullin 2016). entirely “self-made”; 20 percent of those Such examples sit within a rich vein of billionaires were from China, Russia, India, popular accounts of the wealthy and their and Brazil (Wealth-X 2017). The makeup misbehaviors, from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s of the super-rich is rapidly changing as the Great Gatsby (1925) to Brett Easton Ellis’s leading economies of the global South American Psycho (1991) to Kevin Kwan’s increase their share of the market, shaking Crazy Rich Asians (2013). the foundations of the West’s domination So too do these examples sit within on economic but also cultural terms. This a long tradition of social scientific schol- has led to shifting divisions and alliances arship on the mentalities and practices of within and between the upper-middle economic elites, from Thorstein Veblen’s classes and ascendant ultra-affluent at ([1899] 1994) influential account of the both local and global scales. nouveaux riches of the 1890s, to more As the mechanisms for the creation recent work on the new global power and concentration of wealth transform, elite, conspicuous philanthrocapitalism, and global wealth becomes ever more and emerging modes of good taste (e.g., concentrated (Beaverstock, Hubbard, and Cassidy 2015; Daloz 2010; Hay and Muller Short 2004; Di Muzio 2015), the repre- 2013; Featherstone 2014; Schimpfössl sentational politics of status continue to 2014; Smith Maguire and Lim 2015). The shift (Faiers 2014) between positions of study of contemporary elites has emerged ambivalence. On the one hand, there are from a range of disciplinary perspectives

demure performances of super-rich status. and in relation to an array of empirical foci; POLITICS

Following the financial crisis of 2008, this has produced complementary if not newspapers reported on luxury goods always intersecting bodies of knowledge shoppers asking for plain shopping bags with regard to the lived experiences, dis-

(Knowledge@Wharton 2009). Similarly, courses, and institutional infrastructure of CULTURAL

we might look to the consecration of the super-rich (e.g., Freeland 2013; Sayer 3 privilege enacted through the discourse of 2015; Hay and Beaverstock 2016; see

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recent special issues assembled by Davis Super-Rich Scholarship and Williams 2017; Armitage 2018; Cousin, Studying the super-rich comes with Khan, and Mears 2018). All of this work specific challenges, both methodological underlines the contemporary significance and disciplinary. Access is often the main of the super-rich. To study economic elites barrier in studying the lives of the elites; is to study power and inequality from however, the social science preoccupation above (Khan 2012). with class strictly in terms of disadvantage This special issue thus offers critical (e.g., Moore, Gibson, and Lumby 2018) reflection on the category of the super- can also pose obstacles, framing the study rich. Who are the super-rich? How do they of elites as a peripheral luxury. However, produce and reproduce their status? How recent work has compellingly argued that are the figures of the super-rich differently we must not only study the oppressed and configured across time and space? From the marginalized, but we must also “study a range of disciplinary perspectives, the up” to fully understand and challenge collection of articles utilizes the super-rich social and economic inequality (e.g., Di as a lens to examine political, economic, Muzio 2015; Khan 2012). That argument and cultural shifts with regard to the aes- provided the starting point for an event thetic, spatial, and financial dimensions of we organized in May 2017 that brought wealth and power. Questioning the super- together a range of social science and arts rich, we suggest, provides an avenue for and humanities scholars looking at the the study of power in society, how it is super-rich as a serious object of study. reproduced, and how global hierarchies Funded by CAMEo, the University of may be shifting with the decentering of the Leicester’s Research Institute for Cultural West. To that end, the articles attempt to and Media Economies, the symposium make visible the brute force of the infra- brought together several of the authors structures (politics and policy, cultural and featured herein, as well as others such occupational conventions, financial devices as Jonathan Beaverstock, who recounted and systems) that are occluded by the experiencing journal editors’ successive tendency to focus on the gloss of super- dismissals of the research topic when rich lifestyles; this requires attention to the seeking to publish what has become a long-term and newly emerging tensions seminal article in the field (Beaverstock, within and between categories of wealth Hubbard, and Short 2004). While related and of elites, and spheres of political, eco- scholarship has gathered momentum since nomic, and cultural activity. Furthermore, that time, the super-rich remain under- 15:1 March15:1 2019

the authors contribute to an understanding researched — hence the contributions in • of how the accumulation of wealth is per- this special issue. Three themes in particu- petuated and excused through discourses lar emerge from recent scholarship, which of legitimation, structural dynamics, and help to frame the intent and content of the

POLITICS lived identities. These are much-needed special issue: the discourses and repre-

critical interventions at a time of escalat- sentations, mechanisms and structures, ing inequality when the “parallel coun- and lived experiences and identities of the try” (Frank 2007) of the super-rich has super-rich.

CULTURAL amassed half of the global wealth. 4

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Discourses and Representations capital (Prieur and Savage 2013) continue Studies of the discursive dimensions of the to symbolically demarcate elites from their super-rich have explored the ways in which aspirants. At the same time, the cultural representations of the wealthy are shaped imaginaries of wealth and power are spec- by both celebratory and critical frames, and tacularly displayed and deployed through circulated as part of the flow of information material objects, from iconic architecture and imagery about class, power, and privi- to luxury retail spaces (e.g., Armitage and lege (Kendall 2011). Historical comparisons Roberts 2016; Crewe and Martin 2016; have highlighted the continuity of certain Sklair and Struna 2013). narrative constructions of the wealthy, both approving (“rags to riches” stories) Mechanisms and Structures and disapproving (“get rich quick” stories), The mechanisms and structures that as well as changes, as the justification of enable the hyper concentration of wealth wealth has shifted from religious virtue to and buttress the reproduction of the super- individual happiness (Fluck 2003). Rep- rich have been the focus of substantial resentations of the super-rich, their lives research. These extend from financial and excesses, serve to individualize and instruments to strategies for influencing naturalize inequality, helping to legitimate tax and property policies, which have the structural processes underpinning come to characterize “global” cities like extreme concentrations of wealth (Jawor- London (Atkinson 2016; Burrows, Webber, ski and Thurlow 2017). Representations of and Atkinson 2017). Many such studies wealth symbolically and ideologically work emerge from the fields of geography and to obscure structural processes that repro- urban studies, with recurrent themes being duce the advantages of elites, from the the processes and mechanisms that allow transnational movement of capital to urban for the movement of the super-rich and planning and the organization of credit their capital, and the importance of mobil- that enables excessive consumption. This ity and the utilization of space. discursive misdirection allows seeming Special attention has been given to contradictions to pass unnoticed, as when changes in the nature of global capitalism individuals simultaneously hold prowealth (Haseler 1999), the emergence and intensi- attitudes while directing explicit skepti- fication of financialization and deregulation, cism and criticism at the rich (Horwitz and and the ability of the super-rich to better Dovidio 2017). tap into flows of transnational capital so Attention has also been directed at the as to increase their own wealth (Irvin representational practices of the super- 2008; Chesters 2013; Davis and Williams rich. These are also marked by continuities 2017; Volscho and Kelly 2012) through and changes over time. If the conspicuous financial products and property (Fernan- consumption and performances of afflu- dez, Hofman, and Aalbers 2016). As a

ence identified by Veblen ([1899] 1994) result, urban zoning and housing policy POLITICS

have transformed in an era of informa- are increasingly tailored to the advantage tionalization when “even billionaires dress of the super-rich. Certain cities and zones casually” (Fluck 2003: 65), they are nev- within cities become territories in which

ertheless far from extinct. New forms of the super-rich are embedded spatially CULTURAL

inconspicuous conspicuousness (Eckhardt, and politically, and from which others are 5 Belk, and Wilson 2014) and elite cultural excluded. Some of the more structurally

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oriented work discusses a hegemonic Reflecting the peculiar challenges of transnational class (see Murray 2015 for access associated with studying elites, a general perspective on this issue, and the lived experiences and identities of the Kaup 2013 for a look at how this is locally super-rich are often approached indirectly articulated). This kind of work highlights (notable exceptions include Frank [2007] the links between the transnational, and Greenfield [2017], who offer cultural- mobile lives of those with privilege and anthropological “inside” views of the the reproduction of a privileged habitus — super-rich, their lifestyles, aspirations, and intersecting with the final theme, below. anxieties). On the one hand, research has Overall, this body of work looks to under- examined the mentalities of the super-rich stand the mobilities of the super-rich within via traces left by their activities and prac- a wider global capitalist system that is pre- tices. For example, a significant body of mised on flow and mobility for the few. work has examined the way in which the super-rich “colonize” space through mech- Lived Experiences and Identities anisms of exclusion and visual territorializ- In addition to the more market-based, ing, through the building of gated commu- economic approaches to understanding nities and other exclusive and exclusionary the structural foundations for the repro- zones (Pow 2011; Knowles 2017; Thurlow duction of the super-rich, work has also and Jaworski 2012). On the other hand, the been done on the cultural reproduction of dispositions of the super-rich are accessed the super-rich via particular identities and through the frontline service class who are dispositions, sowed through education and engaged directly with them, such as the preparation for work (Forbes and Lingard intermediaries who manage their financial 2015; Tarc and Tarc 2015). A key theme in affairs (Davies 2008) and court high net this regard has been agency, with scholars worth individuals to specific locations as noting the exaggerated degree of influence a means to inject capital (Pow 2011, 2017; and “hyper” agency ascribed to and mobi- Atkinson 2016). lized by the super-rich (Maclean, Harvey, The three themes discussed above and Kling 2017). Whether it be in regard cover an array of perspectives on the to decisions to close themselves off in super-rich, from the structural and micro- gated communities (Pow 2011), to engage mechanisms that enable the accumula- in charity work or public service (Power tion and management of wealth, to the et al. 2016; Schimpfössl, this issue), or to discourses that frame wealth, and the partake in research that may actually be subjective experiences of elites. Intersec- 15:1 March15:1 2019

critical of them (Gilding 2010), research tions between these themes highlight • underlines the super-rich’s capacity to both the constitution of the super-rich choose on their own terms. Agency clearly as a socioeconomic phenomenon and overlaps with mobility (see Butler and significant research contributions from

POLITICS Lees 2006 and Webber and Burrows 2016 scholars across the social sciences — many

on the local impacts of mobility) but also of whom are included in this special issue. with the performance of everyday life, as The spatial dimensions of the super-rich, studies of the consumption and leisure for instance, run through examinations

CULTURAL habits of the super-rich suggest (e.g., Mar- of the global distribution of wealth and

6 roun, Wilkinson, and Young 2014; Spence financial management services, the 2014). performance of leisure activities and the

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symbolic framing of super-rich consump- Banks, Gerry Gunster, Andy Wigmore, tion, and the reverberations of historic and Raheem Kassam). The different layers East/West divides and Eurocentric per- of the images are considered, from the spectives in the contemporary status con- history of the building where the elevator tests between cadres of elites. Concepts is located to the relationships between of mobility, agency, legitimacy, inequality, the men photographed and the reactions and differentiation have served as critical that the images generated online. Littler foci for research and offer potential touch- points to the contradictory relationship points for future cross-disciplinary and between Trump’s flamboyant wealth and cross-cultural insights. his self-positioning as the voice of the masses. She refers to Trump and his ilk as Looking Inside the Super-Rich “normcore plutocrats,” Littler’s term for The articles in this special issue question the ultra-wealthy who “attempt to main- the conceptualization of the super-rich tain and increase their power and wealth from three overarching perspectives. The by performing ordinariness.” Littler peels first several contributions share a concern away the mask of ordinariness that these with critically unpacking key discourses normcore plutocrats put on by means of of legitimacy for wealth — namely, those orchestrated discourse and media texts of meritocracy (Littler), civility (Smith in their attempts to legitimize their wealth Maguire), and luxury (Roberts) — and with and uphold the myth of meritocracy. troubling the representational conventions Jennifer Smith Maguire focuses on of the super-rich (Ojih Odutola, introduced the nouveau riche faction of the super-rich, by Frizzell). The next article examines the arguing that media representations of the political-economic and social dynamics of nouveaux riches are central in the cultural international property markets (Burrows constitution of the global middle class. She and Knowles). The final two articles turn examines the role of a discourse of civility attention to the experiences and mind-sets in policing the boundaries of class, often of elites, via a focus on their professional in relation to consumption habits. Smith identities (Davis) and cultural practices Maguire identifies three dominant frames (Schimpfössl). in representations of the nouveaux riches Jo Littler investigates the way in aimed at the Western professional middle which elites draw on discourses of class: civility, vulgarity, and order (by which meritocracy to validate their position and groups are positioned and movement actions. Littler takes two images as her between positions is rationalized in relation starting point for a cultural studies – to both civility and vulgarity). She finds informed deconstruction of the relation- vulgarity to be the most prominent frame, ship between politics, corporate power, positioning nouveau riche consumption and the media. First: a photo of current as a crass display of wealth; even if the

US president Donald Trump and former nouveaux riches know what to buy and POLITICS

United Kingdom Independence Party where to be seen, they are represented as leader Nigel Farage standing in Trump’s not knowing how to behave. Nevertheless, gold-plated elevator; second: a group some representations in her media sample

photo of Trump and Farage joined by a bestowed the mark of civility, as when CULTURAL

number of men who were instrumental nouveau riche behavior and consumption 7 in the Leave.EU campaign (namely, Arron aligned with established Western ideals

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of bourgeois “good taste.” Such rep- also discusses the relationship between resentations thus serve to reaffirm the law and morality and references the way Western upper middle classes’ position in which laws and spaces are increasingly as gatekeepers of what is and is not bent to suit the super-rich — from strate- civilized. Smith Maguire suggests that the gies for tax avoidance to the criminalization overrepresentation of Asian (particularly of rough sleeping — and the dark side to Chinese) new rich in the media, and the philanthropy, which withholds tax reve- condescending attitudes toward non- nue from the state and supplants public Western rising rich, are manifestations of expenditure without being democratically established upper middle-class anxieties accountable. about their place in the global status hier- The special issue then turns to a archy. Connecting representations of the further account of the super-rich, through new super-rich to a global socioeconomic the work of artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, climate in flux, Smith Maguire offers a rich insightfully introduced by Deborah Frizzell. account of the way in which the nouveaux Through both images and text, Ojih Odu- riches serve as subjects and symbols of tola constructs a fictional world in which a rapidly changing capitalist system and Nigerian noble and mercantile wealth as anchors for a number of anxieties that come together. This world is populated result from these transformations. with all the expected signifiers of wealth: Joanne Roberts offers a critical richly hued and paneled rooms; gilt-framed examination of the moral position of luxury, paintings; red velvet slippers and gold painting a picture of imminent crisis both watches; fine fabrics and furs; family for luxury and for the super-rich in the face estates and equestrian pursuits. At the of contemporary escalating inequality. Tak- same time, her works challenge assump- ing a long-term historical perspective, the tions about wealth through intersections article provides an overview of the positive between signifiers of race and class, and negative conceptualizations and impli- further complicated by nationality and cations of luxury from the classical period sexuality — as the marriage that unites to the present. In doing so, Roberts makes the old and new rich Nigerian families is clear that the moral position of luxury is between “the Marquess of UmuEze Amara, both context dependent and bound up with TMH Jideofor Emeka, and his husband, inequality. This sets the foundation for con- Lord Temitope Omodele from the House of sidering the ethical and moral questions Obafemi” (Ojih Odutola 2017). Moreover, that luxury poses to the super-rich, partic- as indicated in Frizzell’s commentary, Ojih 15:1 March15:1 2019

ularly in relation to the tensions between Odutola challenges what wealth means, • collectivizing redistribution (i.e., taxes) questioning the equivalences typically versus individualizing redistribution (i.e., drawn between excellence and wealth, the magnanimity of super-rich philanthro- and wealth and freedom. She invites us to

POLITICS pists); between collective luxuries (e.g., consider the “beauty and richness in the

high-quality roads, health care, and educa- world” that is flattened by a narrow focus tion) and individual luxuries; and between on the economic spoils of affluence, and to cultural experiences accessible to the challenge the narrow geographical imagi-

CULTURAL general community versus those reserved nary and normative visual discourse of the

8 for an increasingly removed elite. Roberts cultural imaginary of the super-rich.

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Moving away from discourse and rep- backgrounds and disciplinary expertise and resentation, Roger Burrows and Caroline mentalities to the fields of accounting and Knowles address the financialization of finance, and a shortening of tenure with an housing in London over the last decade, accompanying increased focus on demon- approaching the subject from the perspec- strating performance through short-term tive of economic geography. Distinguish- profits and share price increases. What ing between the “merely wealthy” (“the emerges is a picture of the “financialized haves”) and the über-wealthy (the “have CEO,” operating with a foreshortened time yachts”), the authors trace the sociospatial horizon and an emphasis on the spectacle transformations of a number of London of markets (big deals, large-scale restruc- neighborhoods, through the lived expe- turing, short-term share movements in riences of long-term inhabitants. In their funds) to maintain investor interest. Davis analysis, Burrows and Knowles explore demonstrates how these strategies and the usefulness of the term gentrification mind-sets privilege returns for the super- for understanding changes in already rich investor over long-term innovation and affluent areas. They question the limits of stability for the company, thereby placing the frames and methodological tools used financialization and the financialized CEO for understanding urban transformations at the heart of today’s extreme wealth and and expose the internal stratification of inequality. the wealthy. Through rich excerpts from a Elisabeth Schimpfössl also addresses series of interviews with residents in afflu- the lived experiences and identities of ent areas of London, Burrows and Knowles the super-rich, through the lens of cul- provide an account of the recent stages tural practice. She explores the charitable of an increasing financialization of housing and philanthropic practices of Russia’s and offer a nuanced perspective on the super-rich and discusses the extent to super-rich by presenting perceptions of which the frame of philanthrocapitalism is this group held by the “merely wealthy.” useful for understanding the motivations, Aeron Davis explores the structural dynamics, and relations to the state that lie factors that have shaped the professional behind these practices. Through a detailed identities of contemporary CEOs, whom account of the Russian context and the his- he regards as primary definers of and tory of philanthropy in the region, Schimp- influences on contemporary wealth cre- fössl provides a useful perspective on the ation. Drawing from interview data, Davis cultural practices of the super-rich. More identifies differences in the geographic and specifically, she provides valuable insights social networks, attitudes, and strategies into the identity of Russia’s billionaires and of CEOs, contrasting those located in pub- their relation to their Soviet upbringing, licly traded and large, private UK compa- particularly their often contradictory views nies. However, he also identifies continu- on welfare and the state. She suggests

ities within this faction, corroborated by that multimillionaire and billionaire philan- POLITICS

data from a demographic audit of CEOs thropists have constructed distinct ideas and historical accounts of CEOs going about themselves and the role they play in back to the 1970s. These continuities the betterment of Russian society. These

include the professionalization of the CEO ideas help them legitimize their place in CULTURAL

occupation, a narrowing of educational the elite. 9

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Concluding Thoughts economic and social policy. Studying the The assembled articles contribute to super-rich allows us to understand how advancing the literature on the super-rich the accumulation of wealth is perpetuated in the three areas identified earlier. The and excused, but also how middle-class analyses of discourse and representation habitus is reproduced, providing an avenue allow for a more nuanced understanding of for the study of power in society, and how the ways in which the super-rich attempt it is perpetuated. While popular attention to legitimize their status (Littler) and natu- has been directed at the new international ralize luxury and inequality (Roberts). Also super-rich and non-Western billionaires highlighted are ways in which representa- becoming more “Westernized,” the West- tions of and narratives about the super-rich ern elite are also looking to (some of) the reflect other groups’ anxieties about their new super-rich, as we see in Mandarin (but position in a “Great Chain of Being” (Smith not Russian or Arabic) being embedded in Maguire), and the potential for alternative (some) elite schools’ curricula (Forbes and representations (Ojih Odutola) to disrupt Lingard 2015). Thus while the middlebrow assumptions about wealth (such as those may resist the super-rich and regard them associated with race/ethnicity and nation- as vulgar, the old elite seeks to triangulate ality) and challenge the historical inequal- and benchmark against the distinctive ities on which they rest. Discourses on resources of the other, colonizing them the super-rich also cut across Burrow and to retain the long-standing distance — and Knowles’s analysis of urban transforma- thus distinction — that exists between tion, which serves as a window for looking themselves and their newly emerging at the super-rich through the eyes of the global competitors. merely wealthy. The two final articles of As a subject, the super-rich are the issue explore the lived experiences dynamic and constantly evolving, thus of the super-rich but return as well to inviting further research. While significant discourses and structural factors. The char- research has been done on the mobil- acteristics of the professional identities ity, finances, and consumption habits of and attitudes of the world’s top CEOs, as the super-rich, the representations and described by Davis, are linked to changes representational practices of the super- in education and the market, and Schimp- rich remain under-researched. How do the fössl ties the philanthropic activities of super-rich make use of different media Russia’s super-rich to regional discourses (e.g., social media, photography, press) on the role of the state and the duty of to construct their own sense of identity? 15:1 March15:1 2019

individuals. How are widely distributed images of the • Studying the super-rich is not only super-rich (e.g., Rich Kids of Instagram) about the super-rich as subjects. The referenced by working- and middle-class special issue authors invite us to formulate young people in their own identity-building

POLITICS questions about structural issues that the processes? And how important are images

spectacularization of wealth obscures. of wealth, luxury, and elite leisure in the This includes questioning the distribution building of protest discourse and imaginar- of wealth more broadly, the relationship ies against capitalism and/or the concen-

CULTURAL between the public and private sectors, tration of wealth? Furthermore, while there and the politics behind the development of is extensive work linking the lives of the 10

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super-rich with the economic structures References in which they are embedded, there is not Armitage, John. 2018. “Golden Places, Aesthetic enough work on the super-rich and their Spaces: An Introduction to the Cultural Politics of own understandings of wider structural Luxury.” Cultural Politics 14, no. 1: 51 – 54. factors (and how these may have enabled Armitage, John, and Joanne Roberts, eds. 2016. . their wealth). Another possible future ave- Critical Luxury Studies: Art, Design, Media Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. nue of research is gender. How are images Atkinson, Rowland. 2016. “Limited Exposure: Social of the worlds of the super-rich gendered? Concealment, Mobility, and Engagement with How are gendered hierarchies played out Public Space by the Super-Rich in London.” in the world of the super-rich? How are Environment and Planning A 48, no. 7: 1302 – 17. women excluded or co-opted, and how do Beaverstock, Jonathan V., Philip Hubbard, and John these dynamics differ for the “new” and Rennie Short. 2004. “Getting Away with It? “old” super-rich (when billionaires with Exposing the Geographies of the Super-Rich.” inherited wealth are far more likely to be Geoforum 35, no. 4: 401 – 7. women; Wealth-X 2017)? A similar line Burford, Rachael. 2017. “The Face of Luxury: First of inquiry could be followed — as in Ojih Sneak Peek inside Russian Oligarch’s £360 Odutola’s work — to explore race, ethnicity, Million Super Yacht A Shows Chair in the Shape and nationality in this context, in terms of of a Giant Head.” Daily Mail, May 6. www .dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4480054/Peak both representation and local and trans -inside- Russian- oligarch- s- 360million- Super national constructions of the elites. Thus -Yacht.html. the special issue invites — if not demands — Burrows, Roger, Richard Webber, and Rowland scholars to undertake further work to Atkinson. 2017. “Welcome to ‘Pikettyville’? question the representations, structures, Mapping London’s Alpha Territories.” and experiences of the super-rich; to Sociological Review 65, no. 2: 184 – 201. generate more encompassing, critical Butler, Tim, and Loretta Lees. 2006. “Super- accounts of the intended and unintended Gentrification in Barnsbury, London: Globalization characteristics and consequences of the and Gentrifying Global Elites and the super-rich; to further demystify the mech- Neighbourhood Level.” Transactions 31, no. 4: anisms and assumptions that underpin the 467 – 87. intensification of the political, economic, Cassidy, John. 2015. “Mark Zuckerberg and the Rise of Philanthrocapitalism.” New Yorker, December 2. and cultural clout of the super-rich; and to www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/mark fundamentally challenge the increasing -zuckerberg-and-the-rise-of-philanthrocapitalism. isolationism of the super-rich, underlining Chesters, Jenny. 2013. “Wealth Inequality and that when it comes to this planet and our Stratification in the World Capitalist Economy.” shared future, “they” as much as “we” are Perspectives on Global Development and the 100 percent. Technology 12, nos. 1 – 2: 246 – 65. Chomsky, Noam. 2012. Occupy. London: Penguin Acknowledgments Books. Our thanks to the University of Leicester’s Research Cosslett, Rhiannon Lucy. 2018. “Are We Really POLITICS

Institute for Cultural and Media Economies (CAMEo) Going to Let the Super-Rich Take All the Art?” both for the funding that made the initial research Guardian, March 2. www.theguardian.com event possible and for research support that assisted /commentisfree/2018/mar/05/are-we-really with the preparation of this special issue. In particular, -going- to- let- the- super- rich- take- all- the- art. CULTURAL our thanks to Isaac Hoff for his invaluable assistance

with the survey of existing research on the super-rich. 11

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Cousin, Bruno, Shamus Khan, and Ashley Mears. 2018. Freeland, Chrystia. 2013. Plutocrats: The Rise of the “Theoretical and Methodological Pathways for New Global Super-Rich. New York: Penguin Research on Elites.” Socio-Economic Review 16, Books. no. 2: 225 – 49. Frank, Robert. 2007. Richistan: A Journey through the Crewe, Louise, and Amber Martin. 2016. “Looking American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New at Luxury: Consuming Luxury Fashion in Rich. New York: Random House. Global Cities.” In Handbook on Wealth and the Gilding, Michael. 2010. “Motives of the Rich and Super-Rich , edited by Iain Hay and Jonathan V. Powerful in Doing Interviews with Social Beaverstock, 322 – 38. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Scientists.” International Sociology 25, no. 6: Elgar. 755 – 77. Daloz, Jean Pascal. 2010. The Sociology of Elite Greenfield, Lauren. 2017.Generation Wealth. New Distinction: From Theoretical to Comparative York: Phaidon. Perspectives. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave. Haseler, Stephen. 1999. The Super-Rich: The Unjust Davies, James B., ed. 2008. Personal Wealth from a New World of Global Capitalism. Basingstoke, Global Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Press. Hay, Iain, and Jonathan Beaverstock. 2016. Handbook Davis, Aeron, and Karel Williams. 2017. “Introduction: on Wealth and the Super-Rich. Cheltenham, UK: Elites and Power after Financialization.” Theory, Edward Elgar. Culture, and Society 34, nos. 5 – 6: 3 – 26. Hay, Iain, and Samantha Muller. 2013. “Questioning Di Muzio, Tim. 2015. The 1% and the Rest of Us: A Generosity in the Golden Age of Philanthropy: Political Economy of Dominant Ownership. Towards Critical Geographies of Super- London: Zed Books. Philanthropy.” Progress in Human Geography 38, Dorling, Danny. 2014. Inequality and the 1%. London: no. 5: 635 – 53. Verso. Horwitz, Suzanne R., and John F. Dovidio. 2017. “The Eckhardt, Giana M., Russell W. Belk, and Jonathan Rich — Love Them or Hate Them? Divergent A. J. Wilson. 2014. “The Rise of Inconspicuous Implicit and Explicit Attitudes toward the Consumption.” Journal of Marketing Wealthy.” Group Processes and Intragroup Management 31, nos. 7 – 8: 807 – 26. Relations 20, no. 1: 3-31. Faiers, Jonathan. 2014. “Editorial Introduction.” Luxury Irvin, George. 2008. Super Rich: The Rise of Inequality 1, no. 1: 5 – 13. in Britain and the United States. Cambridge: Featherstone, Mike. 2014. “Super-Rich Lifestyles.” In Polity. Elite Mobilities, edited by Thomas Birtchnell and Jaworski, Adam, and Crispin Thurlow. 2017. Javier Caletrío, 99 – 135. New York: Routledge. “Mediatizing the ‘Super-Rich’: Normalizing Fernandez, Rodrigo, Annelore Hofman, and Manuel B. Privilege.” Social Semiotics 27, no. 3: 276 – 87. Aalbers. 2016. “London and New York as a Safe Kaup, Brent Z. 2013. “Transnational Class Formation Deposit Box for the Transnational Wealth Elite.” and Spatialities of Power: The Case of Elite Environment and Planning A 48, no. 12: 2443 – 61. Competition in Bolivia.” Global Networks 13, 15:1 March15:1 2019

Fluck, Winfried. 2003. “What Is So Bad about Being no. 1: 101 – 19. • Rich? The Representation of Wealth in American Kendall, Diana. 2011. Framing Class: Media Culture.” Comparative American Studies 1, no. 1: Representations of Wealth and Poverty in 53 – 79. America. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Forbes, Joanne, and Bob Lingard. 2015. “Assured Littlefield. POLITICS Optimism in a Scottish Girls School: Habitus and Khan, Shamus Rahman. 2012. “The Sociology of the (Re)Production of Global Privilege.” British Elites.” Annual Review of Sociology 38: 361 – 77. Journal of Sociology of Education 36, no. 1: 116 – 36. CULTURAL 12

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Knowledge@Wharton. 2009. “The New High-end Pow, Choon-Piew. 2017. “Courting the ‘Rich and Consumer: ‘Please Put My Bottega Veneta Restless’: Globalisation of Real Estate and Wallet in a Plain Bag.’ ” knowledge.wharton the New Spatial Fixities of the Super-Rich in .upenn.edu/article/the-new- high- end- consumer Singapore.” International Journal of Housing -please-put-my-bottega-veneta-wallet-in-a Policy 17, no. 1: 56 – 74. -plain- bag/. Power, Sally, Annabelle Allouch, Phillip Brown, and Knowles, Carol. 2017. “Walking Plutocratic London: Gerbrand Tholen. 2016. “Giving Something Back? Exploring Erotic, Phantasmagoric Mayfair.” Sentiments of Privilege and Social Responsibility Social Semiotics 27, no. 3: 299 – 309. among Elite Graduates from Britain and France.” Littler, Jo. 2017. Against Meritocracy: Culture, Power, International Sociology 31, no. 3: 305 – 23. and Myths of Mobility. New York: Routledge. Prieur, Annick, and Mike Savage. 2013. “Emerging Maclean, Mairi, Charles Harvey, and Gerhard Kling. Forms of Cultural Capital.” European Societies 15, 2017. “Elite Business Networks and the Field of no. 2: 246 – 67. Power: A Matter of Class?” Theory, Culture, and Sayer, Andrew. 2015. Why We Can’t Afford the Rich. Society 34, nos. 5 – 6: 127 – 51. Chicago: Policy. Marroun, Sana, Ian Wilkinson, and Louise Young. 2014. Schimpfössl, Elisabeth. 2014. “Russia’s Social Upper “Researching Consumer Behaviour at the Top Class: From Ostentation to Culturedness.” British of the Pyramid: Cultures of Consumption of the Journal of Sociology 65, no. 1: 63 – 81. Super-Rich.” Paper presented at the Australian Serafini, Paula. 2017. “Is It Time for the American New Zealand Marketing Academy Annual Dream to Die?” The Conversation, May 10. Conference, Brisbane, December 1 – 3. theconversation.com/is-it- time- for- the- american Moore, Tony, Mark Gibson, and Catharine Lumby. 2018. -dream- to- die- 77120. “Recovering the Australian Working Class.” In Sklair, Leslie, and Jason Struna. 2013. “The Icon Considering Class: Theory, Culture, and Media Project: The Transnational Capitalist Class in in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Deirdre Action.” Globalizations 10, no. 5: 747 – 63. O’Neill and Mike Wayne, 217 – 34. Boston: Brill. Smith Maguire, Jennifer, and Ming Lim. 2015. “Lafite in Mullin, Gemma. 2016. “Chinese Tycoon Takes Eight China: Media Representations of ‘Wine Culture’ Humanoid Robot Maids Shopping So They Can in New Markets.” Journal of Macromarketing 35, Carry His Bags.” Mirror, April 20. www.mirror no. 2: 229 – 42. .co.uk/news/weird-news/chinese-tycoon-takes Spence, Emma. 2014. “Unravelling the Politics of -8-humanoid-7792679. Super-Rich Mobility: A Study of Crew and Guest Murray, Georgina. 2015. “We Rule the World: An on Board Luxury Yachts.” Mobilities 9, no. 3: Emerging Global Class Fraction?” Foresight 17, 401–13. no. 2: 208 – 25. Tarc, Paul, and Aparna Mishra Tarc. 2015. “Elite Ojih Odutola, Toyin. 2017. Artist text for To Wander International Schools in the Global South: Determined. IFAcontemporary. ifacontemporary Transnational Space, Class Relationalities, and .org/unpacking-the- layers- of- toyin- ojih- odutola the ‘Middling’ International Schoolteacher.” -to-wander-determined/. British Journal of Sociology of Education 36, no. Piketty, Thomas. 2014. Capital in the Twenty-First 1: 34 – 52. Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Thurlow, Crispin, and Adam Jaworski. 2012. “Elite Press. Mobilities: The Semiotic Landscapes of Luxury Pow, Choon-Piew. 2011. “Living It Up: Super-Rich and Privilege.” Social Semiotics 22, no. 4: POLITICS Enclave and Transnational Elite Urbanism in 487 – 516. Singapore.” Geoforum 42, no. 3: 382 – 93. Veblen, Thorstein. (1899) 1994. The Theory of the Leisure Class. Mineola, NY: Dover. CULTURAL 13

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Volscho, Thomas W., and Nathan J. Kelly. 2012. Webber, Richard, and Roger Burrows. 2016. “Life in an “The Rise of the Super Rich: Power Resources, Alpha Territory: Discontinuity and Conflict in an Taxes, Financial Markets, and the Dynamics of ‘Elite’ London Village.” Urban Studies 53, no. 15: the Top One Percent, 1949 to 2008.” American 3139 – 54. Sociological Review 77, no. 5: 679 – 99. Wealth-X. 2017. Billionaire Census 2017. New York: Wealth-X Applied Wealth Intelligence. 15:1 March15:1 2019

•

Paula Serafiniis a research associate at CAMEo Research Institute for Cultural and Media

POLITICS Economies, University of Leicester. Her research is on cultural politics, and her interests

include cultural production, social movements, art activism, and cultures of extraction in Latin America. Her latest book is Performance Action: The Politics of Art Activism (2018).

CULTURAL Jennifer Smith Maguire is professor in the Sheffield Business School, Sheffield Hallam University. Her research focuses on processes of cultural production and consumption in the 14 construction of markets, tastes, and value.

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