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American Upper Class

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Who runs America? Do big corporations such as Walmart or even Target run America? Or do a certain political party, such as the Democratic and Republican party run America? Better yet, do you feel as if the federal government ignores the interests of everyday people? Or is it a certain family or families who run America. William. G, Domhoff proves that there are other people who are aiding the government when it comes to running America. To begin with Domhoff first set out to prove that there was an American Upper Class, so he came up with four different studies to help make public of the existence of the American Upper Class. The first was a study that concluded a handful amount of wealthy families who lived in Philadelphia. The family’s ancestry …show more content…

Since the American Upper Class is the dominant class, inequality will happen without a doubt and this can be assumed because of the disproportionate share of stocks, bonds and real estate described earlier that many Americans consider worth having but don’t have because the upper class of Power Elite has the valuables. (p.14) Then Domhoff, in effort to find out how such a group that has power and wealth disproportionately tries to measure …show more content…

in the four major power networks Domhoff explains that there are ways the Power Elite can influence power and wealth and even influence the government and population in a planned manner, thereby making it possible to asses it’s degree of success very directly. (p.16) The first power network is the special interest process which deals with policy concerns of the Power Elite. A select few of lobbyist that came from corporations and law firms and even trade associations play a very meaningful role when it came to shaping the government on narrow issues of concern to specific corporations or businesses and even find top level governmental appointees to implement those policies.(p.161) For example, The Magazine Publishers of America paid a lobbyist firm $520,000 to disagree to a more than likely 15 percent increase in magazine postal rates.(p.174) Special interests groups also work through congress to halt regulatory agencies, for example, when the FDA tried to regulate tobacco, Congress refused access in the year 2000 in deference to the tobacco industry. The FDA is now very careless with its policies, bringing about an almost lack of monitoring safety of the drugs on the market today.

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