In the United States there is a spe
cial tradition of both anti
elite moods and a populism that is related to them. There are different kinds of populism, if you will, which can very broadly be described as left and right. Left pop
ulism and left populists, for instance, tend to be very suspicious of the cor
porate elite and, of course, they can be very suspicious of the political elite, especially if the political elite is in favor of stronger power and a stronger government, the way Obama and his fellow democrats are perceived as being.

As far as China is concerned, society does not reject everything that is associated with the elites. Ordinary people believe that there are two kinds of elites: bad ones and good ones. The Chinese tend to look at local elites as bad ones and at some national elites as good ones. Many have made tremendous efforts to go to Beijing, the capital, in the hope of finding ‘real’ justice. They know local elites are bad because many have suffered in their hands. But they still hope that national elites, especially President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, are good ones because they have appeared to be very much con
cerned with the underprivileged.

Both democratic and authori
tarian regimes are charac
terised by a mutual dislike that occurs between the middle class and lower class within society and its elite. But the nature of this aversion within a democratic soci
ety is based on competition, whereas the nature of such dislike between the social strata in an authoritarian society tends to be different. In the latter case, socie
ty rejects the institutions and the lifestyle that the elite typically sug gests.