# elite (few)

*Ordinarily means:* a small group with great wealth, influence or power, often contrasted with the general public

A collective self that reads the walls on it as set by an out-group: a few whose reach is wide, read as outside its boundary though they are members.

- Computed level: L17 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: published  ·  Domain: agency

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [collective self](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-collective-self.shared), [boundary](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-boundary.limit), [out-group](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-out-group.outside), [wide](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wide.spatial), [reach](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-reach.action), [member](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-member.social), [set](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-set.fix), [power](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-power.over), [read](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-read.information), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [outside](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-outside.spatial)

**Through:** The setters of the group's walls are placed outside the boundary even though they are members, so the walls read as imposed from outside and not as the group's own.

**Novel properties:**
- members relocated outside by their reach
- the group's walls read as not its own

## Examples
- C. Wright Mills's 1956 book 'The Power Elite' studied the small groups at the top of American business, military and politics. *(sociology)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-elite.few*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-elite.few.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*