Theoretical Perspective Of 4. C. Wright Mills And The Power Elite

4. C Wright Mills expanded his speculations based on theoretical perspective of Max Weber. Mills believed that the power elite are the key people in the three major institutions of modern society: economy, government, and military. He states that the elite occupy the key leadership positions within the bureaucracies that now dominate modern societies (Elwell 1). He feels the elite power is rooted in authority, an attribute of social organizations, and not of individuals. He suggests that the power is “not a conspiracy of evil men, but a social structure that has enlarged and centralized the decision-making process” (Elwell 1). William Domhoff suggest that the power elite has the ability to set the terms under which other classes or groups within a social system must operate (Domhoff 3).

It can be concluded that the corporate rich and their power elite is considered as the dominant organizational structure in American society. The wealth and income distributions are skewed in their favor more than in any other industrialized democracy (Domhoff 4). “The appointees to government come overwhelmingly from the corporate community and its associated policy-formation network” (Domhoff 4). The power elite is clearly the most powerful in terms of “Who sits?” He explains that power elite wins far more often than it loses on policy issues resolved in the federal government. Power elite usually has the upper say so in everything involving government Thus, it is the most powerful in terms of “Who wins?” Finally, as shown in reputational studies in the 1950s and 1970s, corporate leaders are the most powerful group in terms of “Who shines?” By the usual rules of evidence in a social science investigation using multiple indicators, the owners and managers of large income producing properties are the dominant class in the United States (Domhoff