ION GLODEANU, From the Theory of the Middle Class to the Theory of Elites

Abstract

The article presents a sketch of how the "conceptual field" was formed with respect to issues related to the formation and evolution of the middle class, of the changes of content and direction thereof in relation to the historical period in which they were formed. What the authors consider to be a new approach refers to the change of the social direction of groups forming the middle class in industrial societies. In the process of passage to the knowledge-led society, the new professionals of knowledge (professors, researchers, innovation managers, innovators) can no longer be considered as holding a middle position (from the point of view of the social role, prestige, training), but they become the groups determining the processes of change. The authors raise two questions which have theoretical and practical significance: 1) do we have the necessary knowledge for it to become society's main resource? 2) to what extent those professional groups which are necessary and able to create and use this knowledge are formed?

Keywords

• elites
• middle class
• mass society
• knowledge society