Vilfredo Pareto
The Italian sociologist and economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923) in his "Trattato di Sociologia Generale" (1916) developed the concept of an elite social class, which he divided into cunning 'foxes' and violent 'lions'. In his view of society, the power constantly passes from the 'foxes' to the 'lions' and vice versa.