In a general sense, contemporary research on elites has underscored the existence of a series of basic traits that characterize them: they are largely male, of established social origin, bearers of university diplomas from quality institutions of higher education, advanced in age, residents of upper class urban neighborhoods, coming from a particular set of professions (jurists, professors, bureaucrats, management, etc.) and so forth. In this paper, after providing a short socio-political history of the Canary Islands that incorporates a concern for equal opportunity, we look at who makes up the island's parliamentary elite, according to the following categories: class, age, gender, region of origin, social mobility, educational level, profession and place of residence.
Political Sociology; political elites; democratic theory; social classes; equal opportunities
