The term oligarch is used in the Lunfardo language as a qualifying adjective for certain people who belong to the upper classes of society, to the oligarchies, and who possess an important part of the political, economic and perhaps even cultural power as well. The term oligarch is informally used and comes from the concept of oligarchy, which is transformed and is then used in this way in a negative or derogatory sense.
We understand by oligarchy a type of government reserved for a few, unlike what happens with democracy (the government of the people or of all). The oligarchy supposes the access to the power of a limited number of people within a community, and with that the sum of economic and political power that these people achieve is always important. Today's oligarchies are always related to financial, industrial, business, rural activities, etc. as long as they provide their members with an important flow of wealth and goods.
It is because of this inequality generated from the concept of oligarchy that the oligarch arises in a derogatory way. When the term oligarch is mentioned, the intention is to refer precisely to that element of concentration of political power as well as concentration of the means of production. Obviously, this term is used by those sectors that are excluded not only from access to politics but also from access to many basic human rights such as food, education, health, and housing. These humble or popular sectors are differentiated through language, then, from those sectors in which an important part of the wealth of the region is concentrated in very few hands. Although the term is used in many Latin American countries, it is especially common in countries like Argentina.
