You could make that argument and yes I agree with you that that is what the article is trying to do, I think I am awkwardly trying to reconcile meritocratically

You could make that argument and yes I agree with you that that is what the article is trying to do, I think I am awkwardly trying to reconcile meritocratically elite and aristocratically/socially elite. The paper seems to be angling at the former while equating the two in class-terms and I think that is where it falls flat, the behaviours, shopping habits, and pastimes of the socially elite don't appear to have changed much (speaking anecdotally of course) but if assessed in terms of the meritocratic elite then yes obviously tastes have changed because the two groups are divergent when we look at trends in appointment to positions favoured by Who's Who when deciding who to include. That last sentence is a bit of a run-on but I think it roughly conveys what I'm saying.