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Analysis

Is there a new elite?

Analysis

BBC

Government, Politics, News

4.61K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

People have always fought back against “The elite”, and until recently they were easily recognisable: rich, privileged and often born into money. Old Etonians, billionaires, oil barons, media tycoons ruled the roost, but there are claims things are changing, and the rise of a new elite is challenging the status quo. Author Matthew Goodwin calls them a group of “radical woke middle-class liberals completely out of step with the public”. University graduates working in creative industries, media and universities, who have an heavy influence over the national conversation about things like immigration, trans rights and sex education, but critics say they don’t represent “ordinary folk”, and as a result communities are feeling unrepresented and left behind. So who is in charge, or is there an unlikely, and unknowing, coalition between the two – the new elite dominating social discourse and cultural discussion, whilst the traditional elite pull the strings of politics and economics? This is the next chapter of the culture wars – but while the pair of them battle it out for supremacy, much of the country struggles on day-to-day watching from the side lines.

Presenter: Neil Maggs Producer: Jonathan IAnson Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors Matt Goodwin, Professor of Politics, University of Kent and author "Values, Voice and Virtue". George Monbiot, Author, journalist and environmental campaigner Dr Lisa McKenzie, research fellow, University of Durham, writer and anarchist Bob & Lee, builders Dr Rakib Ehsan, Social policy analyst and author "Beyond Grievance" Baroness Tina Stowell of Beeston Paul Embery, Firefighter, trade unionist and writer Tom, boxing club owner Aaron Bastani, Broadcaster and founder of Novara Media

Transcript

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0:00.0

Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

0:04.6

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

0:08.4

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable

0:14.3

experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC

0:20.4

makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

0:24.6

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

0:29.7

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

0:36.0

BBC Sounds.

0:38.0

BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts.

0:41.0

Thank you for listening to this edition of Analysis, the podcast that looks at ideas behind the news.

0:47.0

In this episode, presenter Neil Mags asks, is there a new elite. In the past fortnight, the Black Lives Matter hashtag has been used

0:57.0

40 million times on social media.

1:00.0

It's the Guardian reading, tofu eating, woke karate.

1:05.0

What is a woman?

1:08.0

This summer the government launched a consultation for the relative.

1:11.0

We refuse to surrender to the woke mob. This state is where woke goes to die.

1:18.0

The culture wars don't seem like stopping anytime soon do they?

1:25.7

factions fighting to prove their right about things like immigration,

1:29.4

LGBT-Q rights and historic statues. And now, according to some, there's a new battle taking place, one

1:37.1

that could shape an entire generation, a scrap between the old elites of blue blood privilege

1:42.0

and billionaires

1:43.3

against an up-and-coming group of young progressive influential graduates.

...

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