aristocracy

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For more information on aristocracy, visit Britannica.com.

noun

People of the highest social level: blue blood, crème de la crème, elite, flower, gentility, gentry, nobility, patriciate, quality, society, upper class, who's who. Informal upper crust. See over/under.

Definition: privileged class, government
Antonyms: commoners, plebites, proletariat

Rule by the best. The basis upon which the best are to be identified or chosen may be variously specified; for example, fitness to govern may be assessed in technical, meritocratic terms, or in historical, or dynastic ways. Since, by definition, the best are a select group, the distinction between aristocracy and oligarchy may become blurred, and oligarchy has often been presented as a corrupt form of aristocracy.

— Andrew Reeve

A vague term, derived from the Greek aristokratia, meaning the rule of the best. It is broader than peerage or even nobility. In common parlance it was usually taken to mean the upper classes or ‘betters’, but was confined largely to landowners. The ‘golden age’ of aristocracy was between 1688 and 1832, with the monarchy safely limited yet the threat of democracy still distant. Its legacy was the parks and country houses, such as Belton (1685), Petworth (1690), Chatsworth (1696), Castle Howard (1700), Woburn (1747), Harewood (1759), and Heveningham (1778).

The Greek word means ‘rule of the best’, and originally denoted government by the hereditary nobility. At Athens, before the rise of democracy (‘rule of the people’) the land-owning nobles were the ruling class of the city-state, prominent by birth, wealth, and personal prowess (see EUPATRIDAE). They governed the state through a council (see AREOPAGUS) whose authority was unchallenged. After the eighth century BC society changed throughout Greece, and wealth, not birth, became the criterion for power. As a consequence the councils which governed city-states were gradually reconstituted to admit these people (for Athens, see SOLON and BOULE), and non-aristocrats rose to the same political levels as the nobles. Aristocracy in Greece often developed into oligarchy, but for a long time aristocratic families dominated political life. Sparta and Thessaly remained strongly aristocratic throughout the classical period. The poems of Theognis (of Megara) show the views of an aristocrat alarmed by the effect of wealth in disturbing the old social and political order, while the odes of the Theban poet Pindar reflect some of the ideals of the aristocratic life. For aristocracy at Rome see REPUBLIC.

Rule by a privileged class. In classical Greece an appealing alternative to monarchy, the rule of one person, or democracy, rule by the mob. The aristocracy is defended also by Burke, in his Reflections on the Revolution in France as the repository of tradition, honour, responsibility and education, dedicated to stability and the guardian of necessary virtues that have stood the test of time. In the contemporary world, similar claims are made for CEO's, company directors, and retired judges and civil servants of the right kind.

A privileged, primarily hereditary ruling class, or a form of government controlled by such an elite.

n.

Government by the best men. (In this sense the word is obsolete; so is that kind of government.) Fellows that wear downy hats and clean shirts -- guilty of education and suspected of bank accounts.

Quotes:

"Nobility is a graceful ornament to the civil order. It is the Corinthian capital of polished society." - Edmund Burke

"Real nobility is based on scorn, courage, and profound indifference." - Albert Camus

"Aristocracy has three successive ages. First superiority s, then privileges and finally vanities. Having passed from the first, it degenerates in the second and dies in the third." - Vicomte De Chateaubriand

"A fully equipped duke costs as much to keep up as two Dreadnoughts, and dukes are just as great a terror -- and they last longer." - David Lloyd George

"All that is noble is in itself of a quiet nature, and appears to sleep until it is aroused and summoned forth by contrast." - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"I have known a German Prince with more titles than subjects, and a Spanish nobleman with more names than shirts." - Oliver Goldsmith

See more famous quotes about Aristocracy

• Forms, Systems, and Philosophies - aristocracy: government by wealthy, privileged minority or hereditary ruling class

For the social class, see Aristocracy (class).

For other uses, see Aristocrat (disambiguation).

It has been suggested that Noocracy be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2011.

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Aristocracy (Greek ἀριστοκρατία aristokratía, from ἄριστος aristos "excellent," and κράτος kratos "power"), is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule.^[1] The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best".^[2] In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy. In later times, aristocracy was usually seen as rule by a privileged group (the aristocratic class), and contrasted with democracy.^[1]

Contents 1 Concept 2 Advocates of aristocracy 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References

Concept

The concept evolved in Ancient Greece, whereby a council of famous citizens was commonly used and contrasted with "direct monarchy" in which an individual king held the power. The Greeks did not like the concept of monarchy, and as their democratic system fell, aristocracy was upheld.^[1]

In Rome, the Republic consisted of an aristocracy as well as consuls, a senate, and a tribal assembly. Later, aristocracies primarily consisted of an elite aristocratic class, privileged by birth and often by wealth. Since the French Revolution, aristocracy has generally been contrasted with democracy, in which all citizens hold some form of political power. However this distinction is often oversimplified.

In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes describes an aristocracy as a commonwealth in which the representative of the citizens is an assembly by part. Simply put, a government when only a certain part of the general public can represent the public.

Modern depictions of aristocracy regard it not as a legitimate aristocracy (rule by the best) but rather as a plutocracy (rule by the wealthy).

Advocates of aristocracy

• John Calvin
• G. K. Chesterton
• Julius Evola
• Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer
• Heraclitus
• D. H. Lawrence
• Joseph de Maistre
• Charles Maurras
• John Maynard Keynes^{[citation needed]}
• Arthur Moeller van den Bruck
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• José Ortega y Gasset
• Plato
• Oswald Spengler
• Alexis de Tocqueville
• Theodor Herzl
• Charles Baudelaire

See also

conservatism portal

• Gentry
• Nobility
• Old Money

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Aristocracy". Oxford English Dictionary. December 1989. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50011987?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=aristocracy&first=1&max_to_show=10. Retrieved December 22, 2009. 
2. ^ The Oxford Companion to British History, John Cannon (Editor), Oxford University Press, 1962, ISBN 978-0-19-866176-4

References

• History, John Cannon (Editor), Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-19-866176-4

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - aristokrati, adel

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    landadelen

Nederlands (Dutch)
aristocratie, adel, hooggeborenen, aristocraten

Français (French)
n. - aristocratie

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    hobereaux

Deutsch (German)
n. - Aristokratie

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    Landadel

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αριστοκρατία, αριστοκρατικό πολίτευμα

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    αριστοκράτες γαιοκτήμονες

Italiano (Italian)
aristocrazia

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    nobiltà terriera

Português (Portuguese)
n. - aristocracia (f), nobreza (f), classe (f) privilegiada, governo (m) da elite

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    aristocracia rural

Русский (Russian)
аристократия, знать

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    земельная аристократия

Español (Spanish)
n. - aristocracia

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    aristocracia campesina, nobleza provinciana

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - aristokrati

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
贵族, 上层社会, 特权阶级, 贵族的统治

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 貴族, 上層社會, 特權階級, 貴族的統治

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 귀족[정치], 거드름 피움

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 貴族政治, 貴族, 貴族階級, 一流の人々

idioms:

• landed aristocracy    地主階級社会

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أرستوقراطيه, طبقه عاليه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אצולה, אריסטוקרטיה‬

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