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Elitism In The American Government

Decent Essays

The political system in the United States of America is not comprised of a singular ideology. The discussion stands that the American government hosts both pluralism and elitism, but neither in full completion or dominance. The American government is comprised neither fully of pluralism nor elitism, but rather plural-elitism; an intertwinement of the two. This essay will discuss pluralism, elitism, plural-elitism, and why American government is a mixture of these concepts. Pluralism is based on the ideology that “competition among interest groups produces compromise and balance among competing policy preferences”. (Paletz, Owen, and Cook) Politically, pluralism the distribution of power throughout a government. A misconception is that pluralism …show more content…

Plural-elitism is the pluralistic relationship between multiple elitist groups in the government. Although no group may have power over another, the groups themselves are elitist which defies the pluralistic standpoint. In addition, the elitist groups may not hold the interest of the public above all else. It is seen that the American government is neither an elitist dictatorship, nor a system where power is evenly distributed to the full extent among the people. An example of the plural-elitism relationship in the American government can be seen in the relationship between all the states. Each state has a governing power in the capital which provides order over the entirety of that state. State government is usually run by upper-class white people who do not always look to the peoples’ best interest. These state governments exist in each state which creates a pluralistic sharing of power throughout the United State. Individual state governments and their relationships to one another across the United States exemplify a plural-elitism standpoint. The ideology of pluralism is based on creating balance by distributing power evenly across culture and population. Political elitism is most often a small group of upper-class people who hold political positions solely with the intent to gain economic wealth, even in opposition to the public’s best interest. Plural-elitism is a mix of the two, where many elitist groups share a pluralistic relationship with each other. The American government uses neither fully pluralistic, nor fully elitist views, but a mix of the two resulting in a plural-elitist

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