Rhizomatic Elites: Rethinking Power, Multiplicity, and Spatial Networks in Urban Indonesia

This study reconceptualizes elite formation and power in urban Indonesia through a poststructuralist lens, critiquing hierarchical models from Western contexts. We develop Rhizomatic Network Analysis (RNA)---a methodology grounded in Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy---to examine elite dynamics in Makassar. Moving beyond conventional approaches, we theorize elites as molecular assemblages--contingent formations shaped by affective, discursive, and material relationships. Our data reveals that power operates through horizontal networks rather than centralized structures. Through empirical cases, we demonstrate how elites territorialize and reterritorialize space according to shifting alliances and contexts. These findings challenge conventional elite theory by revealing three characteristics of rhizomatic power: fluidity of elite status as contingent formations, multiplicity of overlapping relational dimensions, and spatiality of power across formal and informal domains. This approach offers insights into elite formation in the Global South and contributes to debates in political sociology, urban studies, and critical geography by showing how Southern urban contexts can reinterpret global social theory.