Elites usages of economic capital and power relations

While wealth and power now seem to be displayed conspicuously and unapologetically, the relationship that unites these two terms has long been controversial. In our time democracies, it continues to be ambivalent. Indeed, economic capital can drive power relations under certain conditions only. These power relations can be better seen if we take a step aside and, instead of looking, once again, at the way power is converted and transfigured, if we delve into the materiality of economic capital. By focusing on elites’ lifestyle and consumption behaviours, both at work and at home, we gain access to the subtlety of some elite usages of economic capital, how it is performed or, conversely, concealed, to serve, reach or maintain power positions.