Demerits of Aristocracy:

In spite of some merits, aristocracy suffers from numerous defects which may be mentioned as follows :

1.  Class Rule:

It implies class-rule and class-rule is essentially selfish and arrogant.

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It is often unsympathetic to the masses and generally results in exploitation of the many by a few.

2. No Education in Self-Government:

Finally, ii retards the self- development of the masses. It keeps them away from the government and does not give them any training in the art of self-government. Thus it deprives them of the opportunities of self-government and reduces them to dumb-driven cattle.

The fact of the matter is that all through the ages Aristocracy had power in its hands in one form or the other. In Ancient Greece, in so-called city-state democracy, the leisured class of people consisting of slave owners constituted political aristocracy and ruled over the city states of Greece in the name of democracy.

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In Feudal society, all through the middle Ages, the landlords constituted aristocracy and shared the powers of Monarch. Priesdy class also constituted an aristocracy and shared the powers of the monarch. In modern period, in all capitalist democracies, the industrialists and commercial class constitute an aris­tocracy wielding almost all the political powers.

Even in a Socialist democracy like U.S.S.R. there is aristocracy of intellectuals. Intellectuals and theoreticians have got all the political control in their hands. So we find, the aristocracy has got its influence all through.