Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-201) and index.

Introduction and guide to the book -- Economic elites and the super rich in the 21st century -- Productive elites : on entrepreneurship, the technostructure and social mobility -- The fragmentation of the middle class in the neoliberal era -- Stories of financial crisis and austerity from the 19th to the 21st century -- Making sense of crises in capitalism : an overview of theories and approaches -- The international circulation of elites and global social movements -- Migrant diasporas, development and the attachment to national identity -- Can capitalism afford economic democracy? -- Epilogue : what reforms to neoliberal capitalism and current globalization?.