Broligarchy is a

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

and

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

combining

oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or t ...

and broism describing the rule of government by a coterie of extremely wealthy men (occupying leadership roles in the tech companies and tech-enabled businesses) who are perceived by the public as tech bros. It is also known as tech oligarchy.

Origin of the term

According to

Prospect magazine ''Prospect'' is a monthly British general-interest magazine, specialising in politics, economics and current affairs. Topics covered include British and other European, as well as US politics, social issues, art, literature, cinema, science, th ...

, "Broligarchy appears in surfer language in the early 2000s “when a small group of bros run a break”—referring to locals controlling a surf spot." The modern use of the terms ''broligarch'' and ''broligarchy'' can be traced to a Twitter post in 2009. Broligarchy appeared on

Urban Dictionary ''Urban Dictionary'' is a crowdsourced English-language online dictionary for slang words and phrases. The website was founded in 1999 by Aaron Peckham. Originally, ''Urban Dictionary'' was intended as a dictionary of slang or cultural word ...

in 2011. The terms gained wide adoption on social media during the

2024 US presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...

and the second Trump presidency. In a tweet on X in March 2024,

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editor Luke Zaleski called

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

"the world's first broligarch". The term broligarch was first used in the

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large Mass media, mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Noam Chomsky, Choms ...

in late July 2024 in a news article in ''The Observer'' by the British journalist

Carole Cadwalladr Carole Jane Cadwalladr (; born 1969) is a British author, investigative journalist, and features writer. She was a features writer for ''The Observer'' and formerly worked at ''The Daily Telegraph''. Cadwalladr rose to international prominence i ...

. In early August 2024, the term ''broligarch'' appeared in the title of articles in ''the Atlantic'' magazine by Brooke Harrington and in the English edition of

Al Majalla ''The Majalla'', often directly transliterated as ''Al Majalla'' (Arabic:المجلة, "the magazine") is a Saudi-owned, London-based political news journal published in Arabic, English and Persian. The magazine's headquarters in Saudi Arabia i ...

by Bryn Haworth. The subsequent months saw a flurry of media usage following the

in November of the same year and the

second inauguration of Donald Trump The United States presidential inauguration, inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States took place on Monday, January 20, 2025. Due to freezing temperatures and high winds, it was held inside the United States Capi ...

in January 2025.

Historical developments

In the 2021 book ''

The Tyranny of Big Tech ''The Tyranny of Big Tech'' is a 2021 book written by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. The book's claim is that Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple (Big Tech) are the "gravest threat to American liberty since the monopolies of the Gilded age" bec ...

'', Republican Party politician and senior

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

member of

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

Josh Hawley Joshua David Hawley (born December 31, 1979) is an American politician and attorney serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Missouri, a seat he has held since 2019. A member ...

argued that major technology companies like

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

, and

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

have become tech oligarchs with overwhelming economic and political power. He describes these companies as modern-day robber barons who are draining prosperity and power from the middle class and creating a new oligarchy. Critics claimed that Hawley's book contained factual errors and accused him of using the book as a launching pad for his own political career.

References

{{Authority control 2020s neologisms Political culture Oligarchy

Origin of the term

Historical developments

See also

Further reading

References