Did the elites take over social justice movements like MeToo, Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street? Not exactly. Those movements were all totally in alignment with elite values in the northern United States. And those elites do control most American media and most of academia. So, to say these "causes" were ever separate from elitism would not be quite right. They were only separate from Southern elitism. In truth, social justice has become something of a religious cause to the heirs to the Puritans in Yankeedom. It's hard to imagine that a Marxist-style working class revolution could ever overwhelm that dynamic.
Here are the articles I mentioned:
David Leonhardt of the NYT: The Failure of Progressive Movements - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Freddie deBoer: Freddie deBoer | Substack
Andrew Sullivan: Could MLK Give A TED Talk Today? - by Andrew Sullivan (substack.com)
Coleman Hughes: Why Is TED Scared of Color Blindness? - by Coleman Hughes (substack.com)