‘The elite’ is a nebulous term that is interpreted to mean different things. I tend to think of status hierarchies as spectral rather than having clear-cut lines between groups, meaning it’s difficult to identify ‘the elite’. Nonetheless, there is value in the common intuition that a small number of people have much more power, security, and wealth than most people, wherever we (perhaps arbitrarily) choose to draw the line between the two groups.

It seems reasonable to consider Dominic Cummings to currently be in ‘the elite’ to the extent that he has significant power at a national level, along with the attendant security and wealth. This may be ironic given his supposed loathing of ‘the establishment’, another nebulous term that is not, to my mind, synonymous with ‘the elite’. But there is perhaps a greater irony.

He may have worked very hard, and he may be very intelligent, but he has also been the beneficiary of multi-faceted privilege. He is white, male, heterosexual, able bodied, grew up in a middle-class home, and was privately educated (which implies financial security). This is like a checklist of privileges that make it more likely he would end up (or remain) in the very ‘establishment’ that he apparently so dislikes. Heck, his uncle was a Lord Justice of Appeal. How many people can claim such family connections? Anyway, establishment or not, these privileges certainly eased his path to his current position in ‘the elite’.

As I say, this is not mutually exclusive with hard work or intelligence. I have no idea how Dominic Cummings stacks up in either regard. But privilege has been likened to playing a computer game that’s set to easy. (Albeit life is too important and complex to liken to a game, but for illustrative purposes…). His path to his current position has been made easier at each step because of his multi-faceted privilege.

But, of course, there is a logical flip side to some people being the beneficiaries of structural inequality. There are many other people, and groups, who, rather than being elevated, are oppressed by the social hierarchies that we construct and maintain, designating some as ‘good’ or ‘better’ and others as ‘bad’ or ‘worse’. Those who are not elevated by privilege must, instead, face additional challenges and barriers at each step in their lives (like playing a computer game set to hard, to return to the imperfect analogy).

In relation to black people, this is manifested in deaths in custody and at the hands of the police. Not to mention the daily police aggressions spoken of by black people and indicated by (and I’m talking about the UK here):
– the disproportionate stop and search numbers: https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/stop-and-search/latest?fbclid=IwAR2EIRhzH2YCdN8WOMbSTug94PHslz7mAr8wyBLdRBYTGi_yS-bE1JTmKy4
– the disproportionate arrest numbers: https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/number-of-arrests/latest?fbclid=IwAR0yXCzZ9B1OWcxYV82pA60LnrYqiuMfOV8qkOKUXAhHi2XqwtSRoSwfK8o

And this extends beyond interactions with the police to a multitude of facets of daily life including interactions with other agents of the state, treatment in shops, how people speak or react to you, and portrayal in the media. When you think about the grind of having to put up with daily mistreatment, and of seeing the fatal mistreatment of those in your community, whilst being expected to do so quietly and without complaint, the current protests look incredibly restrained.

So, on one side we have a man who has been the beneficiary of structural privilege and sits in a position of power, security, and wealth.

On the other side, we have a group of people protesting to have their lives respected and valued.

On one side we have a man who has publicly been shown to have broken rules and possibly endangered other people’s lives, who not only goes unpunished but is protected and defended.

On the other side we have a group of people who have been expected to put up with being punished for doing nothing wrong, and who are wrongly suspected, attacked, and mistreated in their daily lives.

It is the same system of social inequality that produces both outcomes. This is what happens when social hierarchies are created and sustained. Some win. Many lose.