Zuckerberg, Musk, Bezos & Co. have an incredible impact on the world and set technical standards worldwide. A research team consisting of the three sociologists Professor Hilke Brockmann from the University of Bremen, Wiebke Drews from the University of Munich and Professor John Torpey from the University of New York examined the worldview of the heads of companies such as Tesla, Facebook and Amazon: Their study ” A class for itself? On the worldviews of the new tech elite” was published in the PLOS ONE journal in mid-January. Brockmann explains to the science information service: “Technical innovations are a motor for social change. We were interested in the people behind this change, what drives them and how they see the future.”
The tech elite: in a class of their own
With their research, the sociologists try to answer three questions:
Do the tech elite share a meritocratic worldview?
Do the tech elite have a “mission” for the future of the world?
How do the tech elite feel about democracy?
To answer these three questions, the researchers decided to examine the wording of the people who were named among the 100 richest members of the tech industry by business magazine Forbes in 2017. The study mainly examined Americans and Asians with an average age of 54 years. It was interesting from the start that only one of the 100 richest agreed to a personal interview for research purposes – all the others declined. Therefore, the researchers examined the statements made by members of the tech elite on Twitter and other social media: All posts and comments were examined for certain keywords and their frequency compared to their occurrence in the vocabulary of the rest of the population.
In fact, the study found that the tech elite can be viewed as a “class of its own” in the Marxist sense: the 100 richest in the tech industry share a common world view.
The 100 richest in the tech industry: meritocratic, almost missionary and rather undemocratic
The researchers found that the members of the group studied communicate much more positively and use more positive expressions than the average other social media user: this is because they want to motivate everyone else to make the world a better place – to follow them in their mission. In fact, in many statements by the 100 richest in the tech industry, the request or the ambition to “make the world a better place” in the future has become clear.
The study also revealed that the tech elite places more value on their own success than on inherited wealth and that influence, power, competition and profit make up the self-image of the 100 richest in tech. Regarding the last question, Brockmann explains to the science information service: “The elite does not see their own role with their power critically. They say: We only do good! They deny that they set technical standards and influence democracy with their financial power.”
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