upper-class

This term carries a heavy weight of exclusivity and inherited privilege. It suggests not just the possession of money, but a specific set of cultural markers, manners, and social networks that separate a small elite from the rest of the population. Depending on the speaker, the word can be descriptive and neutral or laced with resentment. In political discourse, it often functions as a critique of systemic inequality and the concentration of power within a hereditary or financial oligarchy.