Expenditures by wealthy individuals and corporations on activities such as political campaigns, legal lobbying, "socially conscious" activism, and occasionally direct bribery determine most or all of public policy. Again, these do not usually take the form of explicit policies that openly favor the wealthy as a stated policy goal, but nonetheless set in motion economic processes and practical consequences that favor the interests of the wealthy.įor example, most modern countries are nominally democracies that, in practice, require the support of wealthy donors to effectively campaign for office or influence policy. The specific content of government policies may vary greatly based on local and historical economic, political, and social conditions. Policies enacted and enforced in a plutocracy tend to redound to the benefit of the wealthy either directly or indirectly. Plutocracy tends to be self-reinforcing: wealth is a prerequisite for access to political power, and the policies promoted by plutocrats secure their own hold on wealth and power. The concern of inadvertently creating a plutocracy is that the regulatory focus will be narrow and concentrated on the goals of the wealthy, creating even more income and asset-based inequality. Instead, it can be created through the allowance of access to certain programs and educational resources only to the wealthy, thereby making it so that the wealthy hold more sway. Plutocracy doesn't have to be a purposeful, overt format for government. Plutocracy is not to be confused with oligarchy, which defines a political structure in which power is concentrated within a small group of people that are not necessarily wealthy.The Roman Empire was considered a form of plutocracy in which a Senate consisting of the wealthy aristocracy had the power to elect local administration officials and propose new policies. Plutocracy has been present since ancient times.Commentators state that rising income inequality has converted America into a plutocracy, with Congress getting richer on average.Indirectly, plutocracy can take the form of regulatory frameworks and programs designed to benefit only the wealthy.Plutocracy is a system of rule by the wealthy, directly or indirectly.