Plutocracy

"Merchant prince" redirects here. For powerful businesspeople, see Captain of industry. For the computer game, see Merchant Prince.
"Plutocrats" redirects here. For the 2012 book, see Plutocrats (book).
Not to be confused with Plutonomy.

A plutocracy (from Ancient Greek πλοῦτος (ploûtos) 'wealth' and κράτος (krátos) 'power') or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. It can be considered a form of oligarchy (rule by the few) where the ruling few are wealthy. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. It is not rooted in any established political philosophy.

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