The greatest trick the ruling class ever pulled was convincing the world it didn’t exist. In the nineteenth century, supporters and opponents of capitalism both agreed that the system couldn’t survive universal suffrage. But the triumph of liberal democracy has made it easier for the ruling class to hide in plain sight, at least in the centers of developed capitalism. Their social power is immense and often overwhelming, but mainstream political theory barely acknowledges their existence.

Before the rise of industrial capitalism, it was easy to say who the rulers were. Feudal aristocrats with vast landholdings exercised power directly, with a monarch or emperor at the apex of the state. Republics were rare, democracies nonexistent. Capitalist industrialization created new classes that demanded a role in political life. The modern bourgeoisie wanted a say in how things were run, but they didn’t want their workers to have the same right.

For a long time, representative government came with all kinds of restrictions and safeguards to keep the masses away from decision-making. Property qualifications and literacy tests stopped working-class men from voting — and women couldn’t vote at all. An elitist second chamber, like Britain’s House of Lords, often constrained a parliament that was elected on a broad franchise. In many countries, it was the monarchy that really controlled executive power: parliament was little more than a theater.