Business and corporate elites in Serbia

Abstract

This paper discusses the issue of new business and corporate elites in Serbian society as one of the neglected aspects of two-decades-long social and economic transition away from the eyes of the general public. These elites haven't reached their status through typical channels of social mobility, such as education and achievements in professional work. In the struggle for capital allocation most of the business elites took advantage of the accelerated privatization of public property which took place in a climate of illegal business. The political establishment was in favor of the new business tycoons since they themselves also took advantage of the moment to convert their political power into the economic one. By devaluing public enterprises, selling them for a pittance and deceiving small shareholders massively, new corporate owners eroded the social capital. The society was impoverished and instead of developing it followed the path of antimodernization and peripheralization of the economy. That was a clear case of obstructing the democratic development of society by its elites. The majority of the new economic elite have originated from those social layers of the socialist era who had already possessed significant resources, economic, organizational and cultural capital, as well as political power. It can be argued that it was a transition without transformation, i.e. a process of 'remaking' the old establishment into a new elite. However, since the mid-nineties, the business and corporate elites have been penetrated by a new generation of business people, generally not related to the previous establishment. They accept the rules of doing business in a responsible manner. On the other hand, the state has found enough strength to start sanctioning transitional financial frauds and fraudsters from the closed circles of the current financial (pseudo) elite.

Keywords

• business elites
• corporate elites
• transition
• transformation of elites
• Serbia