C. Wright Mills Analysis

According to Weber a large group of people who rank close to one another in property, power, and prestige is what defines social class. Property, power, and prestige give people different chances in life, serrate them into different lifestyles, and provide the with distinctive ways of looking at the self and the world (Pg. 227). Property is considered material possessions which includes things like bank accounts, animals, businesses, cars and cash. When you add uptake value of someones property and subtract their debts, you have what sociologists call wealth. Wealth and income are often confused, because they are not the same thing. Wealth is a persons net worth, income is the flow of money. Income has sources like the wages or businesses,

Power is the ability to carry out your will, even over the resistance of others. Sociologist C. Wright Mills pointed out that power was concentrated in the hands of a few. Mills was given lot of criticism, because this analysis contradicted the dominant view that “the people” make the country’s decisions. This is an example of ideology which is still dominant and Mills analysis continues to ruffle feathers. Mills and others have stressed how wealth and power coalesce in a group of people who look at the world in the same way and view themselves as a special elite. The believe that each group of people belong to the same private clubs, vacation at the same resorts, and even hire the same and for their daughters’ debutante ball. This show the extraordinary power or the lines in the United States society, so much that many of our presidents have been millionaire white men from families with older money (pg. 231). Agreeing with Mill, sociologists William Bomhoff argues that the power elite is powerful that the United States government makes no major decision without its approval Although Bomhoff conclusion are controversial and alarming they for sure follow logically that wealth brings power and extreme wealth comes with extreme power (pg.