Global Class/Global Elites
Globalization increasingly stratifies the world into new sorts of classes.
For Robert Reich, characteristics of the new global class include:
Think in cosmopolitan rather than national terms
Have high skill and education levels
Speak foreign languages
Travel internationally
Unlikely to be deeply threatened by either recessions or outsourcing
Unlikely to have any connection with the military
Communication technology means members of this elite are far more likely to know people thousands of miles away, and communicate with them on a daily basis than they are to know and regularly communicate with people physically present within a five or ten mile radius. The result is an increasingly sharp divide between power and community.
Critically, members of this class often consider themselves part of a meritocracy. On the one hand, they have very few real ties to their countries of origin. On the other, they often are direct beneficiaries of free trade, low regulation, and other generally conservative policies. Their children (and friends) will ALWAYS be assured access to the best education, medicine, safe neighborhoods, etc.