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While the concept of a 'financial elite' has become prominent within politics and the social sciences, it is not clear what value it holds for the analysis of inequalities of income, wealth and power under financial capitalism. Who are the financial elite, and what distinguishes them from other economically powerful groups? We delineate 'distributive', 'categorical' and 'relational' approaches to financial elites, arguing that various unresolved tensions have hampered clarification of the differentia specifica of the concept, and blunted its normative significance. We develop a new concept of financial elites that combines insights from elite studies and financialisation studies. We argue that the financial elite possess not only high incomes, but income primarily derived from 'rentier' channels, as endowed by the institutional structures of financialisation. Financial elites demonstrate the capacity not only to capitalise on these new accumulation channels, but to shape the institutional and regulatory landscapes in which they operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand inequality in the post-Good Friday Agreement (post-GFA) period, we must understand how inequality in Northern Ireland has been subject to stressors long acknowledged in the international literature, though seldom considered in this context. These 'new' stressors include destandardization, retrenchment, and financialization, which have largely replaced the class and employment differentials that characterised 20th century inequality. We explore the specific experience of inequality in Northern Ireland since Good Friday. In doing so, we contextualise its experience by detailing important structural and institutional changes over this time, explaining how they work in the unique socioeconomic context of post-GFA Northern Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]