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Who rules—and how do they stay on top? This course examines inequality from above, exploring how elites are formed, legitimated, and challenged across diverse settings. Case studies range from Ivy League admissions and Wall Street hiring to technology elites, Russian oligarchs, emergent Chinese elites, Indian caste hierarchies, and royal families in the Gulf. We will explore how class, race, and gender shape the formation of elite groups, their capacity to appropriate resources, and their struggles with rival elites over power and resources. By the end of the course, students will have the analytical tools to understand not just who holds power, but how that power is reproduced, justified, and contested.