Introduction to elites From the ‘problematic of the proletariat’ to a class analysis of ‘wealth elites’

This introductory paper argues that it is vital to reorient class analysis away from its long term preoccupation with class boundaries in the middle levels of the class structure towards a focus on the class formation at the top. This will permit sociological analysis to engage more effectively with concerns about the 1 percent' and accentuating wealth which are increasingly evident. Accordingly I sketch out the persistence of the problematic of the proletariat' in sociological analysis before considering theoretical resources which might permit an engagement with the wealth elite'. This paper serves to introduce the other papers of this special issue which use the GBCS to explore different facets of the wealth elite in Britain today.