Lit We need to talk about the Rebellion (or, how to build a better Alliance)

I think the extent to which they reflect the old elites has changed with the canons. In the old continuity, that seemed to be less true. Yes, there were galactic elites, obviously best represented in the leadership, but those elites seemed to be a lot less representative of the people at the top. It was basically three senators (Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Garm Bel Iblis). They didn't seem to represent a broader trend in the Senate. By the time of the movies and Bantam Era, the galaxy's legitimate elites were mostly Imperial or gone, not waiting to welcome them back - they had to reconquer most of the galaxy militarily.

Whereas in the new continuity, Rogue One shows you a very large number of senators and other big shots who are unhappy with the Empire and are at least talking about rebellion, even if most of them chicken out when the excrement hits the fan. And then the Aftermath trilogy has them basically reinstating the old Senate. There's much more of a sense of dissatisfaction with the Empire by elites who are waiting to sweep back into power once the Rebellion has made it possible.

 

Which tells me that in the old Canon-for whatever reason most of the galactic elite went along with the empire-and those that did not were relatively few in number.

The Jedi of course both had very personal reasons to oppose the new empire and becuase the empire had eliminated them as a physical, moral, and political institution.