Secession of the successful

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The term "secession of the successful" is a particularly evocative term. This phrase occurs in the late JK Galbraith's works as well as in the writings of other economists and describes, how the "successful" tend to "secede" from society as they get richer and more successful. That is, those who are successful tend to retreat into a totally private world. They use private electricity. They attend private schools and colleges. They live in private colonies, manned by private security guards. They socialise at private clubs, use only private transport and thus they cease to have any stake at all in the "public realm" or in the public world. In our country of course even the public realm is often "privatised". When the UP or Jharkhand Assembly attempts to push through legislation simply to protect members from Office of Profit Law, or when Priyanka Gandhi doubles as poll agent for....