Dictionary Definition
aristocracy
Noun
1 a privileged class holding hereditary titles
[syn: nobility]
2 the most powerful members of a society [syn:
gentry]
User Contributed Dictionary
Extensive Definition
Aristocracy is a hereditary
form of government, where rule is established through an internal
struggle over who has the most status and influence over society
and internal relations. Power is maintained by a hereditary
elite, from a caste, class,
family (or even some individuals).
Aristocracies have most often
been hereditary plutocracies
(see below), with a belief in their own superiority. Aristocracies
often include a monarch who although a member of the aristocracy
rules over the aristocracy as well as the rest of society.
Aristocracy can also refer to the highest class in society even if
they do not rule directly. They are usually under the leaders of
the country in the ladder of status.
The term "aristocracy" is
derived from the Greek aristokratia, meaning the rule of the
best.
History
The term "aristocracy" was first given in Athens to young citizens (the men of the ruling class) who led armies from the front line. Since military bravery was such a highly regarded virtue in ancient Greece, it was assumed that the armies were being led by "the best". From the ancient Greeks, the term passed on to the European Middle Ages for a similar hereditary class of military leaders often referred to as the "nobility". As in ancient Greece, this was a slave-holding class of privileged men whose military role allowed them to present themselves as the most "noble", or "best".In India, these men are
usually of the martial or Kshatriya caste
such as the Gujjars and
Rajputs and
their sub-divisions.
In the Islamic world, the
aristocratic caste of Sayyid belongs
exclusively to the descendants of Muhammad's
immediate family babys and extends to all classes of society. This
is usually distinguished from the ordinary use of "Sayyid" to mean
'Sir' or 'Lord'.
The French Revolution attacked
aristocrats as people who had achieved their status by birth rather
than by merit, such as being considered unjust. The term had become
synonymous with people who claim luxuries and privileges as a
birthright. In the United
Kingdom and other European countries in which hereditary
titles are still recognised, "aristocrat" still refers to the
descendant of one of approximately 7,000 families with hereditary
titles, usually still in possession of considerable wealth, though
not necessarily so.
In the United
States and other nations without a history of a hereditary
military caste,
aristocracy has taken on a more stylistic meaning. It also can
refer to those, like the Roosevelts, whose families came to the
United States early in its history, acquired large holdings and
have been able to hang onto their wealth through many generations.
In the American south, particularly in former Confederate states,
the term southern aristocracy refers to those families that
acquired large land holdings before the Civil War and remain
wealthy landowners to this day, or to families that lost their
wealth in the 19th century but continue to insist on deference. In
some cases, especially the latter, the usage is pejorative and
refers to purveyors of snobbery, but "aristocrat" can
also refer to an elegant person with a gracious lifestyle and
strong sense of duty.
Comparison with other forms of government
As a government term, aristocracy can be compared with:- autocracy - "rule by a single individual", such as a dictator or absolute monarch.
- meritocracy - "rule by those who most deserve to rule". While this appears to be the same as the original meaning of "aristocracy", the term "meritocracy" has usually implied a much more fluid form of government in which one is, at most, considered "best" for life, but must continually prove one's "merit" in order to stay in power. This power is not passed on to descendants.
- plutocracy - "rule by the wealthy". In actual practice, aristocrats' wealth allows them to portray their own virtues as the "best" ones. Usually, this wealth is passed down through inheritance, and in countries like England may be kept intact through primogeniture, in which the oldest child (usually first male) inherits the bulk of the wealth and titles.
- oligarchy - "rule by the few". Whether an aristocracy is also an oligarchy depends entirely upon one's idea of what is a "few".
- monarchy - "rule by a single individual". Historically, the vast majority of monarchs have been aristocrats themselves. However, they have also been very often at odds with the rest of the aristocracy, since it was composed of their rivals. The struggle between a ruling dynastic family and the other aristocratic families in the same country has been a central theme of medieval history.
- democracy - "rule by the majority". Democracy and aristocracy are incompatible as forms of government due to the hereditary nature of power in an aristocratic system. Exclusion of this was Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where kind of democracy of nobility (szlachta) existed.
External links
References
Further reading
- Beerbohm, Max, Zuleika Dobson.
- Bence-Jones, Mark. The Viceroys of India. Curzon family.
- Brough, James. Consuelo: Portrait of an American Heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt's marriage to the Duke of Marlborough. Marlborough family.
- Bush, Michael L. The English Aristocracy: a Comparative Synthesis. Manchester University Press, 1984. Concise comparative historical treatment.
- Bush, Michael L. Noble Privilege. (The European Nobility, vol. 1) Manchester University Press, 1983.
- Cannadine, David, 1998 Aspects of Aristocracy (series Penguin History) ISBN 0-14-024953-2. Essays on class issues, aristocratic family norms, careers.
- Cannadine, David. The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy. Yale University Press, 1990.
- Channon, Sir Henry. Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon Robert Rhodes James, editor. Excerpts from the diaries of a privileged observer, 1934–53.
- Country Life Magazine, Documenting houses, gardens, pictures, horses, local history, debutantes since 1897.
- Forster, E. M., Howard's End.
- Galsworthy, John. The Forsyte Saga
- Girouard, Mark. Life in the English Country House : A Social and Architectural History
- Halperin, John. Eminent Georgians: The Lives of King George V, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby, & Nancy Astor
- James, Henry. The novels.
- Jullian, Philippe. Prince of aesthetes: Count Robert de Montesquiou, 1855-1921. Montesquiou family; the Decadent movement and the original of Proust's Baron de Charlus.
- Lacey, Robert. Aristocrats. Little, Brown, 1983.
- Lampedusa, G., The Leopard novel.
- Lovell, Mary S. The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family.
- Mitford, Jessica. Hons and Rebels. ISBN 1-59017-110-1
- Mitford, Nancy, Love in a Cold Climate
- Montagu of Beaulieu, Lord (Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu). More equal than others: The changing fortunes of the British and European aristocracies. St. Martin, 1970.
- Morton, Henry. The Rothschilds.
- Nicholson, Nigel. Portrait of a Marriage : Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson
- Pearson, John. The Sitwells: A Family's Biography
- Pine, Leslie G. Tales of the British Aristocracy. Burke Publishing Co. 1956.
- Prochaska, F. K., editor, 2002. Royal Lives ISBN 0-19-860530-7 (Lives series) Excerpted official biographies from the Dictionary of National Biography
- Proust, Marcel, The Guermantes' Way, Sodom and Gomorrah. The closed circle of French aristocracy after 1870.
- Sutherland, Douglas, The Fourth Man: The story of Blunt, Philby, Burgess, and Maclean The double career of Sir Anthony Blunt, Keeper of the Queen's Works of Art and spy.
- The Tatler Magazine.
- Trollope, Anthony The Plantagenet Palliser series of Parliamentary novels.
- Wasson, Ellis, Aristocracy and the Modern World, Palgrave Macmillan 2006.
- Waugh, Evelyn. Brideshead Revisited
- Waugh, Evelyn, Decline and Fall.
- Winchester, Simon. Their Noble Lordships: Class and Power in Modern Britain. Faber & Faber, 1981.
- British TV series shown on PBS in the United States, Upstairs, Downstairs, The Jewel in the Crown, Brideshead Revisited, The Aristocracy: Born to Rule 1875-1914 (1997)
aristocracy in Arabic:
أرستقراطية
aristocracy in Bosnian:
Aristokratija
aristocracy in Bulgarian:
Аристокрация
aristocracy in Catalan:
Aristocràcia
aristocracy in Danish:
Aristokrati
aristocracy in German:
Aristokratie
aristocracy in Estonian:
Aristokraatia
aristocracy in Spanish:
Aristocracia
aristocracy in Esperanto:
Aristokratio
aristocracy in Basque:
Aristokrazia
aristocracy in Persian:
آریستوکراسی
aristocracy in French:
Aristocratie
aristocracy in Galician:
Aristocracia
aristocracy in Croatian:
Aristokracija
aristocracy in Indonesian:
Aristokrasi
aristocracy in Icelandic:
Aðalsveldi
aristocracy in Italian:
Aristocrazia
aristocracy in Hebrew:
אריסטוקרטיה
aristocracy in Georgian:
არისტოკრატია
aristocracy in Latvian:
Aristokrātija
aristocracy in Lithuanian:
Aristokratija
aristocracy in Hungarian:
Arisztokrácia
aristocracy in Macedonian:
Аристократија
aristocracy in Dutch:
Aristocratie
aristocracy in Japanese:
貴族制
aristocracy in Norwegian:
Aristokrati
aristocracy in Norwegian
Nynorsk: Aristokrati
aristocracy in Polish:
Arystokracja
aristocracy in Portuguese:
Aristocracia
aristocracy in Romanian:
Aristocraţie
aristocracy in Russian:
Аристократия
aristocracy in Simple
English: Aristocracy
aristocracy in Slovenian:
Aristokracija
aristocracy in Serbian:
Аристократија
aristocracy in
Serbo-Croatian: Aristokracija
aristocracy in Finnish:
Aristokratia
aristocracy in Swedish:
Aristokrati
aristocracy in Thai:
อภิชนาธิปไตย
aristocracy in Turkish:
Aristokrasi
aristocracy in Ukrainian:
Аристократія
aristocracy in Chinese:
贵族制
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
FFVs, absolute monarchy, aedileship, ancestry, ancienne noblesse,
archbishopric,
archiepiscopacy,
archiepiscopate,
aristocraticalness,
autarchy, autocracy, autonomy, baronage, baronetage, barons, beau monde, birth, bishopric, blood, blue blood, bon ton,
carriage trade, chairmanship, chancellery, chancellorate, chancellorship, chiefery, chiefry, chieftaincy, chieftainry, chieftainship, chivalry, coalition government,
colonialism,
commonwealth,
constitutional government, constitutional monarchy, consulate, consulship, county, cream, deanery, democracy, dictatorship, dictature, directorship, distinction, dominion rule,
duarchy, duumvirate, dyarchy, elect, elite, emirate, episcopacy, establishment, federal
government, federation, feudal system,
flower, garrison state,
genteelness,
gentility, gentry, gerontocracy, governorship, haut monde,
headship, hegemony, heteronomy, hierarchy, hierocracy, high life, high
society, home rule, honorable descent, jet set, knightage, leadership, limited monarchy,
lords of creation, lordship, magistracy, magistrateship, magistrature, martial law,
masterdom, mastership, mastery, mayoralty, mayorship, meritocracy, metropolitanate,
metropolitanship,
militarism, military
government, mob rule, mobocracy, monarchy, neocolonialism, nobility, noble birth, nobleness, noblesse, noblesse de robe,
ochlocracy, old
nobility, oligarchy,
overlapping,
pantisocracy,
papacy, pashadom, pashalic, patriarchate, patriarchy, patricians, patriciate, peerage, police state, pontificality, pontificate, popedom, popehood, popeship, power elite, power
structure, prefectship, prefecture, premiership, presidency, presidentship,
prime-ministership, prime-ministry, princedom, princeship, principality, proconsulate, proconsulship, protectorate, protectorship, provostry, provostship, pure democracy,
quality, rank, rectorate, rectorship, regency, regentship, representative
democracy, representative government, republic, royalty, ruling circles, ruling
class, seigniory,
self-determination, self-government, seneschalship, seneschalsy, sheikhdom, sheriffalty, sheriffcy, sheriffdom, shrievalty, smart set, social
democracy, society,
stratocracy,
supervisorship,
suzerainship,
suzerainty, technocracy, the Four
Hundred, the best, the best people, the brass, the classes,
thearchy, theocracy, top people,
totalitarian government, totalitarian regime, triarchy, tribunate, triumvirate, tyranny, upper class, upper
classes, upper crust, upper ten, upper ten thousand, uppercut, vizierate, viziership, welfare
state