Elite Capture

1. Elite Capture: The Silent Hijacking of Social Progress

Elite capture is not a conspiracy. It’s bigger than cynical appropriations, opportunism, or the moral successes or failures of any individual or group.

Defining the problem. Elite capture describes how socially advantaged individuals or groups gain control over resources and institutions intended for the many, redirecting them to serve their own narrower interests. This phenomenon is pervasive, affecting everything from foreign aid distribution in developing countries to the dynamics of political movements and even academic disciplines. It's a systemic behavior, an observable pattern that emerges from the constant interplay of individuals and groups within a social system, rather than merely the result of malicious intent.

Pervasive influence. This dynamic is not confined to specific political ideologies or social identity groups; it's a general political problem. Whether it's the "wokeness" critiqued for reflecting "rich white people's" preoccupations or the "professional-managerial class" dominating political discourse, elite interests tend to exert disproportionate control across various aspects of our social system. The author argues that it's not just that "wokeness is too white," but that "everything is" subject to this pervasive influence, highlighting the deep-seated nature of power imbalances.

Systemic, not individual. Understanding elite capture requires looking beyond individual moral failings or successes. It's a "system behavior" that arises from the unequal balances of power inherent in social systems. Just as rust appears where metal and water meet, elite capture emerges where social systems encounter certain conditions. Recognizing this systemic nature is crucial for developing effective strategies to combat it, moving beyond blaming individuals to addressing the underlying structures that enable such capture.

2. Identity Politics: From Solidarity to Symbolic Performance

The term “identity politics” was first popularized by the 1977 manifesto of the Combahee River Collective, an organization of queer, Black feminist socialists, and it was supposed to be about fostering solidarity and collaboration.

Original intent. The Combahee River Collective, a group of queer, Black feminist socialists, coined "identity politics" to articulate a political agenda rooted in their full experiences and interests, fostering solidarity and collaboration across differences. It was an "entry point for Black women to engage in politics," aiming for diverse coalitional organizing focused on shared social issues like food, housing, and healthcare, rather than a withdrawal from broader movements. This original vision emphasized unity and collective liberation.

Modern distortion. Decades later, the concept has been twisted, often leading to the closing of ranks around narrower group interests, particularly on social media. This distortion has equipped institutions with a new vocabulary and aesthetic for their politics, even when the substance of their decisions is irrelevant or counter to the interests of marginalized people. This "elite capture" of identity politics, rather than the concept itself, is what stands between us and transformative, nonsectarian, coalitional politics.

Symbolic gestures. The author highlights how identity politics is now often used for symbolic gestures that pacify protestors without enacting material reforms. Examples include:

• The mayor of Washington, D.C., painting "Black Lives Matter" on streets while protestors were brutalized nearby.
• The CIA's "Humans of CIA" recruitment videos targeting diverse identity groups, rebranding imperial projects.
• Formal political task forces and encouraging murals that perform symbolic identity politics without addressing root causes.
  This shift from substantive change to symbolic representation is a key indicator of elite capture.

3. The "Black Economy" Myth: A Historical Case of Elite Capture

Frazier thus concludes that an African American economy was a pipe dream all along.

A historical critique. E. Franklin Frazier's 1957 work, Black Bourgeoisie, offered a pioneering analysis of elite capture by critiquing the Black middle class and the long-standing political strategy of building a separate Black economy in the United States. Frazier argued that this project, exemplified by Booker T. Washington's National Negro Business League, was misguided due to the mathematical impossibility of bootstrapping a robust Black economy from existing political realities and its inherent vulnerability to outside influence.

Class interests at play. Frazier contended that the myth of a Black economy persisted due to the particular class interests of a small but influential Black bourgeoisie. These included business owners seeking monopolies within the African American market and salaried professionals hoping to leverage presumed knowledge of Black purchasing power for their own advancement. He argued that this elite subgroup advanced its own interests under the banner of racial uplift, often without genuine regard for the welfare of the larger Black community.

Modern parallels. Jared A. Ball's contemporary analysis, The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power, reiterates Frazier's concerns. Ball shows how the latest iteration of this myth centers on Black Americans' consumer power, shifting focus and blame onto the "financial illiteracy" of the Black poor, rather than the systemic economic conditions that exploit and marginalize them. Both Frazier and Ball demonstrate how the very problem—the institutions and patterns of the status quo—is often repackaged and offered as the solution, serving elite interests.

4. Power Shapes Perception: The "Common Ground" and "Emperor's New Clothes"

The interaction between the emperor and the crowd is one illustration of how as we talk or interact, we build the world together.

Constructing reality. Our social interactions fundamentally structure our shared reality, or "common ground"—the public information we treat as true. This common ground is not democratically governed; power dynamics dictate what information is accepted as public and shared. The fable of the "Emperor's New Clothes" vividly illustrates how people act as if something is true, not necessarily because they genuinely believe it, but because power structures create incentives and disincentives for playing along.

Beyond belief. The author argues against overly intellectual explanations of oppression that focus solely on beliefs, attitudes, or ideologies. Instead, it's crucial to ask why people act as if they believe something. The townspeople cheering the naked emperor might simply be thinking, "If I don't play along, something bad might happen to me." This perspective highlights that behavior, driven by self-preservation and the desire to navigate a rigged system, is systematically organized by power, often more so than genuine belief.

Value capture. Drawing on C. Thi Nguyen's concept of "value capture," the book explains how social systems, especially those with clear reward and punishment structures like capitalism, can distort our values. We start with rich, subtle values but encounter simplified versions in the social wild, leading us to revise our values towards simplicity. This process, often not a deliberate conspiracy, is a result of environments that encourage "excess value clarity," where actions are driven by the need to win tokens of success within the system, rather than by original, complex motivations.

5. Deference Politics: A Well-Intentioned Trap

Instead, “centering the most marginalized” in my experience has usually meant handing conversational authority and attentional goods to whoever is already in the room and appears to fit a social category associated with some form of oppression—regardless of what they have or have not actually experienced, or what they do or do not actually know about the matter at hand.

Critique of "centering." The author expresses discomfort with the ubiquitous calls to "listen to the most affected" or "center the most marginalized" in academic and activist circles. While well-intentioned, these practices often translate into deferring conversational authority and attention to individuals already present in elite spaces who fit a marginalized identity, rather than genuinely engaging with the truly most affected populations globally (e.g., those in refugee camps or experiencing extreme poverty). This approach risks conflating "being in the room" privilege with authentic marginalization.

Focus on the "room." Deference politics primarily focuses on modifying interpersonal interactions within existing power structures—the "rooms" of classrooms, boardrooms, or political parties. It offers practical advice on allocating tasks or attention in committee meetings, but less on how to address systemic issues like housing insecurity or lack of clean water. This internal focus can mask broader power dynamics and the relationship of the "room" itself to the vast majority of marginalized people who remain outside.

Unintended consequences. While deference can redistribute short-term attention and may seem like an improvement over previous epistemic procedures, it can inadvertently contribute to elite capture. It can:

• Supercharge group-undermining norms by insulating elites from criticism.
• Foster moral cowardice by providing social cover for the abdication of responsibility.
• Displace collective accountability onto individual "heroes" or a mythicized past.
• Prevent genuine engagement with the struggles of others, hindering coalitional politics.
  Ultimately, it entrenches a politics that prioritizes symbolic gestures and interpersonal dynamics over collective liberation and structural change.

6. Beyond the Room: Challenging Systemic Structures, Not Just Interpersonal Dynamics

Bad roommates aren’t the problem, for the same reason that being a good roommate isn’t the solution: the problem is that we are still trapped in the room.

The larger context. The author emphasizes that while interpersonal interactions within our immediate "rooms" (organizations, communities) are important, they are often shaped by larger historical, political, and geographical structures. These structures act as filtering mechanisms, determining who gets into which rooms and what social patterns are observable. For instance, the author's own educational and class advantages, rooted in US immigration policies and Nigerian diasporic success, illustrate how systemic factors dictate access and opportunity.

Cumulative advantage. The education system serves as a clear example of these selection processes, where "cumulative advantage" or the "Matthew effect" ensures that those who were successful yesterday are more likely to receive today's rewards, further entrenching their position. This means that deferential approaches to identity, by focusing on those who have already "made it inside" elite rooms, can inadvertently inherit and perpetuate the distortions caused by these systemic selection processes, rather than challenging them.

Fixed facts. The author argues that the "fixed facts" about who is in a room and its purpose are precisely what should not be held fixed. The social mechanisms that determine who gets into the room are often the very things that need to change. For example, the fact that incarcerated people cannot participate in academic discussions about freedom is directly linked to their physical confinement. True change requires challenging these foundational structures, not just navigating them more gracefully.

7. Constructive Politics: Building a New World, Not Just Critiquing the Old

In general, a constructive politics is one that engages directly in the task of redistributing social resources and powe,r rather than pursuing intermediary goals cashed out in symbols.

Outcome over process. A constructive approach to politics prioritizes achieving specific goals and end results, rather than merely avoiding "complicity" in injustice or promoting purely moral or aesthetic principles. It shifts the focus from internal group dynamics to how those dynamics relate to the broader world and the structures that need changing. This means building institutions and practices for information gathering that are strategically useful for challenging social injustices, rather than centering specific spokespeople or symbols.

World-making project. This approach is a "world-making" project, aimed at building and rebuilding actual structures of social connection and movement, rather than simply critiquing existing ones. It demands that we become planners, designers, builders, and construction workers, actively creating the kinds of rooms and societal structures that support collective liberation. This contrasts sharply with deference politics, which, by conceding creative space to existing societal blueprints, inadvertently defers to the built structure of society itself.

Beyond opposition. While opposing racism, capitalism, and mass incarceration is crucial, a constructive politics seeks to do more than just "Whac-A-Mole with injustice." It recognizes that merely dismantling one form of oppression often leads to another. Inspired by abolitionist thought ("abolition is about presence, not absence") and anti-colonial ethos ("self-determination, not secession"), constructive politics aims to build life-giving systems alongside tearing down life-sucking ones, ensuring a just future beyond mere opposition.

8. Militant Education: A Blueprint for Worldmaking

The PAIGC’s military struggle thus included a comprehensive battle on the “education front,” which Bissau-Guinean militant Agnelo Regala said was considered “as important” as other fronts “because it is not worth . . . freeing the land if we are not ready to assume the responsibility of independence.”

Education as liberation. The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), led by figures like Amílcar Cabral and Lilica Boal, exemplified constructive politics through its "militant education" during their struggle against Portuguese colonialism. Recognizing that colonial education aimed to produce elites to co-manage oppression, the PAIGC developed a program to counteract these ills, fostering self-determination and resistance. Basic literacy and political education were integral to every aspect of their fight, seen as crucial for assuming the responsibilities of independence.

Building new structures. Despite immense practical hurdles—low literacy, competition with farm labor, security concerns, and resource constraints—the PAIGC built a comprehensive education system. They established a pilot boarding school, directed by Lilica Boal, for children of militants and war orphans, supported by international aid from Sweden, Cuba, and the UN. They also created adult and youth newspapers, collective reading circles, and negotiated with village elders to integrate religious and secular education, adapting to local contexts and ensuring girls' inclusion.

Transforming society. The PAIGC's educational efforts, later advised by Paulo Freire and his Institute for Cultural Action (IDAC), aimed not just to change classroom dynamics but to transform the entire social relations of society. This "conscientização" sought to eliminate the distinction between elites and non-elites by fostering a mutually humanizing, liberatory political project. While post-independence challenges arose, including economic crisis and internal divisions, the PAIGC's commitment to education significantly boosted literacy rates and laid foundations for more stable economies, demonstrating the power of education in world-making.

9. The Power to "Just Do Things": Reclaiming Agency in a Rigged System

Despite all our social programming, we can just do things.

Beyond constraints. While social structures build the world around us, complete with affordances and incentives, they do not entirely constrain human agency. The author argues that despite "social programming," individuals possess the unique power to deviate from expected behaviors, ignore rules, and choose actions that defy the system's game plan. This is the power of the small child who points out the emperor's nakedness, breaking the spell of structural hierarchy.

Weak enforcement mechanisms. Most social structures rely on "weaker enforcement mechanisms" to police social life, making system-supporting actions easy and system-altering ones difficult, rather than costly strong-arm interventions. This includes manipulating information through propaganda and disinformation, which aims to herd people into desired behaviors without necessarily changing their beliefs. However, this reliance on subtle guidance means that people can still choose to "walk in the street" instead of on the sidewalk, or "read sentences from right to left," if they choose to.

Constructive deviation. This capacity for deviation can be wielded constructively. We can choose to share information deemed sacrosanct, block traffic for a protest, or invite others to join us in these acts. This ability to make systems more complex, even while embedded within them, is a form of "self-organization" that challenges the fixed nature of social systems. It is a power that immense structures and entrenched interests spend vast resources trying to convince us we don't have, or shouldn't use, because it can quickly turn the "talk of the town into the butt of its jokes."

10. Solidarity and Collective Action: The Only Way to Rebuild the House

And getting there, after all, is the point.

Beyond the room. The constructive approach recognizes that while internal dynamics within our movements are important, most of the world's structures we aim to change exist outside our immediate "rooms." Therefore, the way we treat each other in organizing spaces matters primarily in how it connects us to the broader world and other struggles. This necessitates a focus on building power expansively, across all aspects of social life, from local community control to global debt cancellation.

Building power through institutions. This involves building and strengthening institutions and networks, both formal and informal. Examples include:

• Labor unions: Pivotal for workers' rights, dismantling segregation, and "just transitions."
• Debt Collective: Organizing student and other debts as leverage against the financial system.
• Housing justice groups: Challenging capital's dictates over housing markets.
• Citizen science: As seen in Flint, Michigan, where residents collaborated with scientists to expose and address water contamination.
  These efforts demonstrate how collective action can develop epistemic authority and secure material victories against powerful elites.

Moral and emotional discipline. A constructive approach also demands collective moral and emotional discipline. It asks us to be planners, builders, and accountable to those not yet in the room. It acknowledges that trauma, while real, should not be framed as a social credential for deference, but rather as a shared vulnerability that connects us. As James Baldwin noted, personal torment can be "the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive." This perspective fosters interdependence and solidarity, recognizing that we need each other to collectively decide where we're going and then do what it takes to get there.