Learn English – single word for set of people playing against each other

The standard against which something is compared is a comparator.

comparator noun
...
something used as a standard for comparison:
even taking the most favourable comparator the company is about 20 per cent higher

[ODO]

I think the word you are looking for is "elitism". According to wikipedia it is defined as:

the belief or attitude that individuals who form an elite—a select group of people with a certain ancestry, intrinsic quality, high intellect, wealth, specialized training, experience, distinctive attributes, whose influence or authority is greater than that of others, whose views on a matter are to be taken more seriously, whose views or actions are more likely to be constructive to society as a whole, or whose extraordinary skills, abilities, or wisdom render them especially fit to govern. In America, the term "elitism" often refers to the concentration of power on the Northeast Corridor and West Coast, where the typical American elite - lawyers, doctors, high-level civil servants (such as White House aides), businesspeople, university lecturers, entrepreneurs and financial advisors in the quarternary sector - reside, often in the university towns they graduated from.