What Do You Expect of an Elite?

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I think it's because the landscape has changed so massively, but the qualities that one would expect. I mean, what do you expect of an elite? You expect, elite is not an insulting word. Elite means you're the best. So there's something about you that is admirable in a healthy environment. In a healthy environment, you look at the people at the top and you go, they embody a way of life that I am my own way would like to emulate.

Author Martin Gurri, Visiting Fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, talks about his book The Revolt of the Public with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Gurri argues that a digital tsunami--the increase in information that the web provides--has destabilized authority and many institutions. He talks about the amorphous nature of recent populist protest movements around the world and where we might be headed politically and culturally.