Davos Man
noun · first attested 1990s
A magazine coined it as praise; a Harvard political scientist turned it into an accusation.
A member of the global business and political elite, personified as an attendee of the World Economic Forum.
46.8091°N 9.8398°E · Q68097
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1990s
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Davos
- In English
Davos Man
The Economist used the phrase in a 1997 editorial titled In Praise of Davos Man, for the internationally minded business class. Samuel Huntington gave it its hostile sense in a 2004 essay arguing that such people have little need of national loyalty and see national borders as obstacles. The Swiss resort behind it was a tuberculosis sanatorium town before it was a conference town, and it is the setting of Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain. English has since added Davos Woman.