Government and Politics
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Mills failed to provide detailed case studies which would substantiate
the interrelationship among members of the power elite. Instead, he
suggested that such foreign policy decisions as America’s entry into the
Korean war reflected a determination by business and military leaders that
each could benefit from such armed conflict. In Mills s view, such a
sharing of perspectives was facilitated by the frequent interchange of
commanding roles among the elite. For example, a banker might become the
leader of a federal regulatory commission overseeing financial
institutions, and a retired general might move to an executive position
with a major defense contracting firm.
A fundamental element in Mills’s thesis is that the power elite not only has relatively few members but also operates as a self-conscious, cohesive unit. Although not necessarily diabolical or ruthless, the elite comprises similar types of people who regularly interact with one another and have essentially the same political and economic interests. Mills’s power elite is not a conspiracy but rather a community of interest and sentiment among a small number of influential Americans.
Admittedly, Mills failed to clarify when the elite acts and when it
tolerates protests. Nevertheless, his challenging theories forced scholars
to look more critically at the "democratic" political system of the United
States.
The Ruling Class. Sociologist G. William Domhoff agreed with Mills
that American society is run by a powerful elite. But, rather than fully
accepting Mills’s power elite model, Domhoff argued that the United States
is controlled by a social upper class "that is a ruling class by virtue of
its dominant role in the economy and government". This socially cohesive
ruling class owns 20 to 25 percent of all privately held wealth and 45 to
50 percent of all privately held common stock.
Unlike Mills, Domhoff was quite specific about who belongs to this
social upper class. Membership comes through being pan of a family
recognized in The Social Register—the directory of the social elite in many
American cities. Attendance at prestigious private schools and membership
in exclusive social clubs are further indications that a person comes from
America’s social upper class. Domhoff estimates that about 0.5 percent of
the American population (or 1 of every 200 people) belongs to this social
and political elite.
Of course, this would mean that the ruling class has more than 1 million members and could hardly achieve the cohesiveness that Mills attributed to the power elite. However, Domhoff adds that the social upper class as a whole does not rule the nation. Instead, members of this class who have assumed leadership roles within the corporate community or the nation’s policy-planning network join with high-level employees of profit- making and nonprofit institutions controlled by the social upper class to exercise power.
In Domhoff’s view, the ruling class should not be seen in a
conspiratorial way, as "sinister men lurking behind the throne." On the
contrary they tend to hold public positions of authority. Almost all
important appointive government posts— including those of diplomats and
cabinet members—are filled by members of the social upper class. Domhoff
contends that members of this class dominate powerful corporations, foundations, universities, and the executive branch of government. They
control presidential nominations and the political party process through
campaign contributions. In addition, the ruling class exerts a significant
(though not absolute) influence within Congress and units of state and
local government.
Perhaps the major difference between the elite models of Mills and
Domhoff is that Mills insisted on the relative autonomy of the political
elite and attached great significance to the independent power of the
military. By contrast, Domhoff suggests that high-level government and
military leaders serve the interests of the social upper class. Both
theorists, in line with a Marxian approach, assume that the rich are
interested only in what benefits them financially. Furthermore, as
advocates of elite models of power. Mills and Domhoff argue that the masses
of American people have no real influence on the decisions of the powerful.
One criticism of the elite model is that its advocates sometimes
suggest that elites are always victorious. With this in mind, sociologist
J. Alien Whitt (1982) examined the efforts of California’s business elites
to support urban mass transit. He found that lobbying by these elites was
successful in San Francisco but failed in Los Angeles. Whitt points out
that opponents of policies backed by elites can mobilize to thwart their
implementation.
Domhoff admits that the ruling class does not exercise total control
over American society. However, he counters that this elite is able to set
political terms under which other groups and classes must operate.
Consequently, although the ruling class may lose on a particular issue, it
will not allow serious challenges to laws which guarantee its economic
privileges and political domination.
Pluralist Model
Several social scientists have questioned the elite models of power
relations proposed by Marx, Mills, Domhoff, and other conflict theorists.
Quite simply, the critics insist that power in the United States is more
widely shared than the elite model indicates. In their view, a pluralist
model more accurately describes the American political system. According to
the pluralist model, "many conflicting groups within the community have
access to government officials and compete with one another in an effort to
influence policy decisions".
Veto Groups. David Riesman’s The Lonely Crowd suggested that the
American political system could best be understood through examination of
the power of veto groups. The term veto groups refers to interest groups
that have the capacity to prevent the exercise of power by others.
Functionally, they serve to increase political participation by preventing
the concentration of political power. Examples cited by Riesman include
farm groups, labor unions, professional associations, and racial and ethnic
groups. Whereas Mills pointed to the dangers of rule by an undemocratic
power elite, Riesman insisted that veto groups could effectively paralyze
the nation’s political processes by blocking anyone from exercising needed
leadership functions. In Riesman’s words, "The only leaders of national
scope left in the United States are those who can placate the veto groups".
Dahl’s Study of Pluralism. Community studies of power have also supported the pluralist model. One of the most famous—an investigation of decision making in New Haven, Connecticut—was reported by Robert Dahl in his book, Who Governs? (1961). Dahl found that while the number of people involved in any important decision was rather small, community power was nonetheless diffuse. Few political actors exercised decision-making power on all issues. Therefore, one individual or group might be influential in a battle over urban renewal but at the same time might have little impact over educational policy. Several other studies of local politics, in such communities as Chicago and Oberlin, Ohio, further document that monolithic power structures do not operate on the level of local government.
Just as the elite model has been challenged on political and
methodological grounds, the pluralist model has been subjected to serious
questioning. Domhoff (1978) reexamined Dahl’s study of decision making in
New Haven and argued that Dahl and other pluralists had failed to trace how
local elites prominent in decision making were part of a larger national
ruling class. In addition, studies of community power, such as Dahl’s work
in New Haven, can examine decision making only on issues which become pan
of the political agenda. This focus fails to address the possible power of
elites to keep certain matters entirely out of the realm of government
debate. Conflict theorists contend that these elites will not allow any
outcome of the political process which threatens their dominance. Indeed, they may even be strong enough to block discussion of such measures by
policymakers.
Who Does Rule?
Without question, the pluralist and elite models have little in common. Each describes a dramatically different distribution of power, with sharply contrasting consequences for society. Is there any way that we can reconcile the vast disagreements in these two approaches?
Perhaps we can conclude that, despite their apparent points of
incompatibility, each model offers an accurate picture of American
political life. Power in various areas rests in the hands of a small number
of citizens who are well-insulated from the will of the masses (elite
view). Yet there are so many diverse issues and controversies in the
nation’s political institutions that few individuals or groups consistently
exercise power outside their distinctive spheres of influence (pluralist
view). Even presidents of the United States have acknowledged that they
felt more comfortable making decisions either in the area of foreign policy
(Richard Nixon) or in the area of domestic policy (Lyndon Johnson).
Moreover, the post-World War II period has seen increasing power vested in
the federal government (elite model). But, even within the federal
bureaucracy, there are a staggering number of agencies with differing ideas
and interests (pluralist model).
We can end this discussion with the one common point of the elite and pluralist perspectives— power in the American political system is unequally distributed. All citizens may be equal in theory, yet those high in the nation’s power structure are "more equal."
SUMMARY
Each society must have a political system in order to have recognized procedures for the allocation of valued resources—in Harold D. Lasswell’s terms, for deciding who gets what, when, and how. We have examined various types of political authority and forms of government and explores the dimensions of the American political system.
1. Power relations can involve large organizations, small groups, or even individuals in an intimate relationship.
2. There are three basic sources of power within any political system — force, influence, and authority.
3. Max Weber provided ( e of the most useful and frequently cited contributions of early sociology by identifying three ideal types of authority: traditional, legal-rational, and charismatic.
4. The United States, as a society which values the role of law, has legally defined limits on the power of government.
5. In the 1980s, monarchies hold genuine governmental power in only a few nations of the world.
6. Today, oligarchy often takes the form of military rule, although the
Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China can be described as oligarchies in which power rests in the hands of the ruling Communist party.
7. Political scientists Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski have identified six basic traits that typify totalitarianism: large-scale use of ideology, one-party systems, control of weapons, terror, control of the media, and control of the economy.
8. The United States is commonly classified as a representative democracy, since we elect members of Congress and state legislatures to handle the task of writing our laws.
9. The principal institutions of political socialization m American society arc the family, schools, and media.
10. Only a small minority of Americans actually participate in political organizations or in decision making on a local or national level.
11. Women are becoming more successful at winning election to public office.
12. An interest group a often national in scope and frequently addresses a wide variety of social and political issues.
13. Advocates of the elite model of the American power structure see the nation as being ruled by a small group of individuals who share common political and economic interests, whereas advocates of a pluralist model believe that power is more widely shared among conflicting groups.
14. Television is having a growing impact on American political campaigns.
KEY TERMS
Authority Power that has been institutionalized and is recognized by the people over whom it is exercised.
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