They tend to live in the Northeast and attend exclusive prep schools and Ivy League universities. They tend to belong to mainline Protestant churches and they marry one another. Often members of the elite do not occupy governmental positions themselves, but depend on elected and appointed officials who do their work for them. It takes two or three generations of wealth to arrive in the elite. New members of elite are thoroughly socialized by the time they arrive at the top.
Power flows downward making it democratic theory in reverse.
The elite shares a consensus on the importance of private property, limited government, individual liberty and the fact that change should be incremental rather than revolutionary. On the other hand, big foundations like the Rockefeller Brothers, Ford, Pew, Johnson, etc. have the added benefit of keeping control of stock in the hands of the family and avoiding taxes. The elite manipulates the masses by exploiting symbols such as charity or democratic like elections. Philanthropy reduces the threat that the masses will demand that money be seized from the wealthy. Although few political scientists who believe the elite theory consider it good for democracy, they consider it to be an accurate view of reality.