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{{short description|Social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political agenda}}
{{other uses|The Ruling Class (disambiguation)}}
{{Sociology}}

In sociology, the '''ruling class''' of a society is the [[social class]] who set and decide the political and economic agenda of [[society]].

In Marxist philosophy, the ruling class are the class who own the [[means of production]] in a given society and apply their [[cultural hegemony]] to determine and establish the [[dominant ideology]] ([[ideas]], [[culture]], [[mores]], [[Norms (sociology)|norms]], [[tradition]]s) of the society. In the case of the [[Capitalist mode of production (Marxist theory)|capitalist]] [[mode of production]], that class is the capitalist class, also known as the [[bourgeoisie]].

In the 21st century, the worldwide political economy established by [[globalization]] has created a [[transnational capitalist class]] who are not native to any one country.<ref>[http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~jhsprague/Sprague_Jeb_2009_Globalizations_Interview_with_Leslie_Sklair.pdf Transnational Capitalist Class<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100816014925/http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~jhsprague/Sprague_Jeb_2009_Globalizations_Interview_with_Leslie_Sklair.pdf |date=2010-08-16 }}</ref>

== Background==
In previous [[mode of production|modes of production]], such as [[feudalism]] (inheritable property and rights), the feudal lords of the manor were the ruling class; in an economy based upon [[Slavery|chattel slavery]], the slave owners were the ruling class. The political economy of the [[feudalism|feudal system]] gave socio-economic and legal power to the feudal lord over the life, labour, and property of the [[vassal]], including military service. The political economy of a slave state gave the slaver socio-economic and legal power over the person, labour, and property of a slave.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASownership.htm|title=Slave Ownership<!-- Bot generated title -->|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071203202306/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASownership.htm|archive-date=2007-12-03}}</ref>

In [[Marxist philosophy]], the [[capitalism|capitalist]] society has two dominant social classes: (i) the ruling-class [[bourgeoisie]] (capitalist class) who own the means of production as [[private property]]; and (ii) the working-class [[proletariat]] whom the bourgeoisie subject to the [[exploitation of labour]],<ref>{{cite web|website=Oxford Cambridge and RSA|title=Sociology: Marxism|url=https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/170204-marxism.pdf|page=11|date=2015}}</ref> which form of [[political economy]] is justified by the [[dominant ideology]] of the ruling class.<ref name="The Dominant Ideology Thesis" /> To replace the [[Capitalist mode of production (Marxist theory)|capitalist mode of production]] in a society, Marxism seeks to void the [[political legitimacy]] of the bourgeoisie as the ruling class and overthrow it and its state apparatus, replacing it with a state controlled by the working class, a worker's state, which abolishes private property and takes the means of production under its control. In marxist theory, such a society, in which the proletariat has become the ruling class by seizing power and replacing the capitalist state institutions with institutions that serve the proletariat, is called a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]].<ref name="The Dominant Ideology Thesis">{{Cite journal | doi=10.2307/589886 |jstor = 589886|title = The Dominant Ideology Thesis|year = 1978|last1 = Abercrombie|first1 = Nicholas|last2 = Turner|first2 = Bryan S.|journal = The British Journal of Sociology|volume = 29|issue = 2|pages = 149–170|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L6IwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA396|url-access = subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Marx |first=Karl |title=Critique of the Gotha Program |date= |publisher=International Publishers Company, Incorporated |year=1875 |isbn=978-0-7178-0043-8 |location=New York, NY |publication-date=1987}}</ref>

In the political economies of the former [[Marxist-Leninist state]]s, the [[nomenklatura]] replaced the capitalist ruling class and control the means of production, allocate resources, etc for the society, per the directions of the party. They were the administrators of the [[bureaucracy]] that executed the socio-economic functions of the state.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XicFgasYzWQC&q=nomenklatura&pg=PT5|title=Barbarism and Civilization: A History of Europe in our Time|first=Bernard|last=Wasserstein|date=12 February 2009|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-162251-9}}</ref>

The sociologist [[C. Wright Mills]] identified and distinguished between the ruling class and the [[power elite|power élite]] who make the decisions for modern capitalist societies.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Codevilla|first1=Angelo|title=America's Ruling Class — And the Perils of Revolution|url=http://spectator.org/articles/39326/americas-ruling-class-and-perils-revolution|journal=The American Spectator|volume=2|issue=July 2010|pages=19|access-date=14 July 2015}}</ref>

Likewise, to establish a society without social classes, [[anarchism]] seeks to abolish the ruling class.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://usa.anarchistlibraries.net/library/deirdre-hogan-feminism-class-and-anarchism|title=Feminism, Class and Anarchism|author=Deirdre Hogan|date=2007|website=The Anarchist Library}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=British Anarchisms and the Miners' Strike|author=Benjamin Franks|page=229|citeseerx=10.1.1.604.4418 }}</ref> Unlike the Marxist perspective, anarchists, such as [[Mikhail Bakunin]], seek to abolish the [[State (polity)|state]], because, despite revolutionary change, the (capitalist) ruling class would be replaced by another ruling class (party leaders), which is a political cycle that voids the social-change purpose of a [[revolution]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/131/Marxs_Leviathan|title=Marx's Leviathan|journal=Philosophy Now|issue=131|author=Patrick Cannon|date=2019}}</ref>

Questioning the existence of a functional ruling class in 21st-century societies, [[Mattei Dogan]] proposes that the political and socio-economic [[elite|élites]] do not form a cohesive ruling class within their societies because of the [[social stratification]] and the narrow specialisation of labour consequent to the globalization of the world economy.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} In contrast, for the 20th century, he identifies the combination of military defeat, political implosion and the presence of a charismatic leader as the drivers for the downfall of ruling classes in the [[Russian Empire]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], and later for the creation of [[Vichy France]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Elites, Crises, and Regimes in Comparative Analysis [1998]|first1=Mattei|last1=Dogan|first2=John|last2=Higley|journal=Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung|page=278|year=2012|volume=37|issue=1 (139) |jstor=41756461}}</ref>

== See also ==

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Aristocracy]]
* [[Class consciousness]]
* [[Elite theory]]
* [[Group decision-making]]
* [[Hegemony]]
* [[Liberal elite]]
* [[New class]]
* [[Nobility]]
* [[Nomenklatura]]
* [[Overclass]]
* [[The Man]]
* [[The Superclass List]]
* [[Totalitarianism]]
* [[Upper ten thousand]]
}}

== References ==
<references />

== Further reading ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* Dogan, Mattei (ed.), ''Elite Configuration at the Apex of Power,'' Brill, Leiden, 2003.

{{Social class}}
{{Political philosophy}}

[[Category:Social classes]]
[[Category:Social inequality]]
[[Category:High society (social class)]]
[[Category:Upper class]]
[[Category:Power (social and political) concepts]]
[[Category:Control (social and political)]]
[[Category:Decision-making]]