Thomas Sowell talks about this phenomena a lot, however he describes it as an abundance of wealthy individuals who are highly educated in philosphical ideas but who have no practical or useful skills for society.

It often happens in societies where hard work is looked down upon as something only poor people do. The result is that these 'elites' have nothing else to do but agitate politically.

I feel like people have a great need to succeed and further themselves in life. When they don't have an avenue to satisfy these needs through hard and useful work, they find other outlets. Often these other outlets that can be very detrimental to society as a whole.