The Power Elites : The Role Of Power In The Elites And Society

While different gatherings employ and impact the United States, the elite are the most equipped for doing as such. Their capacity to remain the most dissolvable socio-prudent class is unparalleled

Reading G. William Domhoff’s Who Rules America?: The Triumph of the Corporate Rich was an intriguing and challenging experience for me. My limited knowledge base of the American political class system mostly stems from high school US History classes and listening to my mom’s stories of her experiences in the corporate world. Therefore, I am aware that due to my prior lack of knowledge on the topics presented in Domhoff’s book, I may have misjudged some of his finer points. Part of my struggles may be largely due to the fact that Domhoff’s intended audience for Who Rules America? is other experts in the field of understanding the sociology of the corporate elite and their resources of power. However, I believe that the book has given me a better, if not complete, understanding of the corporate elite and how they stay in power.

British Prime Minister Edward Heath once described as the “ugly face” of organizational life. Whether by design or by default, organizations often have a large negative impact on our world (Morgan, G. 2006. Pg.293). The chapter continues to discuss Sociologist Robert Michels theory, which I feel best applies to this article, where he says “Organizations end up being ruled by the few, and Leaders become preoccupied with power (Morgan, G. 2006. Pg.296). In the case of Republicans representing the House majority, there is a clear role of domination and their use of power to elect Betsy DeVos. Understanding this applies to whichever party holds the majority rule, even democratically elected leaders with the best intentions have a tendency to become a part of the elite furthering their own interest and to hang on to their power at all costs (Morgan, G. 2006.

In the book The Elite, America faces several struggles with herself. One of those struggles was deciding who she would rather spend the rest of her life with Maxon. Or Aspen.Throughout the story America had several mixed thoughts about who she was in love with. One day she would be head over heals for Maxon. And the next day she would be in love with Aspen. America also had several thoughts about quitting The Selection.

A corporation is an artificial person established by the law. It nurses the same rights as humans contrariwise; they are not equally responsible for their actions. A corporation cannot face the same charges a human would: if illegal actions took place. Bakan illustrates the traits of a corporation to closely resemble the traits of a psychopathic individual human being. These traits are, but not limited to: “1) unconcern for others, 2) incapable of maintaining relationships, 3) disregard for others safety/health, 4) repeated lying, 5) incapable of experiencing guilt, and 6) failure to conform to social norms.” Therefore, executive’s means for earning high returns for shareholders can be seen as a trait of a psychopath. Yet, the corporation’s attributes are not based on the qualities of the executives outside of their careers. As Bakan would say, “the people who run corporations are, for the most part, good people, moral people.”

Elite deviance is crime committed by those in a position of power. It is the epitome of what is discussed in ruling class theory, which would explain elite deviance by acknowledging that laws are made by those in power. They also control whether a particular action is legal. In Inside Job, the rating agencies knowingly continued to rate risky securities “AAA,” the highest rating. If the circumstances were different, if these were actions being taken by less powerful groups, a task force would no doubt be put together in order to address the issues. However, the law remains in the hands of the powerful and, as the narrator stated, no one had been prosecuted or even arrested for these acts. Another connection elite deviance has to classroom concepts

The reality is depicted in a litany of powerful, clever men, who misuse their abilities for their own personal ends - which are chiefly, the acquisition and maintenance of power. Their goal is public acclaim, cynically acquired through a popularity based on the

The upper class were very wealthy and owned an abundance of land. Thus, they did not want to live close to the unsanitary city but instead in spacious land where they could build a huge estate. These areas include the Eastern Suburbs and the North Shore in Sydney and the Yarra, Toorak, Kew, Hawthorn, St. Kilda and Bay at Brighton suburbs in Melbourne. They lived on higher planes of land, often on top of hills as it was the furthest away from the factory pollution and had a low risk of flooding. Spread of disease and bacteria was decreased by the medication, clean clothes and larger accommodation that the upper class could afford which prevented the spread of disease and prepared for the need of isolation if an disease epidemic ever occurred. Working conditions were much better as a majority of the upper class were born into rich families that eliminated the need of women and children to work and established men in a high hierarchical position from a very early age which only required them to manage and overlook factories or enterprises.

The ruling elite extends the definition of illegal or criminal behavior to encompass those whom might threaten the status quo. The rules draw

The power elite is able to exert power over society. The power elite’s control over politics demonstrates how inequality is functional. This validates the class-domination theory of power, which is distributed based on economic power. By controlling economic resources, the power elites political influence in government shapes law and those involved in government to the power elites benefit. In today’s American society these laws have impacted both the corporate community and the elite. Furthermore, the author’s portrayal of the elite displayed how the elite have control concerning choices in government policies, elections, and laws.

The elite do respond to the people, when it chooses to do so, or when its position is threatened. The chief executives, i.e. the big corporations play a significant role in decision making as they make the power elite and have a vast influence in the economy. Corporations can affect the taxes by raising the prices for the products, hence affecting the quality of life by production of products and wages of workers; change the environment by chemical wastes and other environmentally unfriendly chemicals. And the third group – the warlords or the high military leaders gained their power during the times of the Cold War. The danger of potential enemies, the demands of foreign affairs and the development of the means of mass destruction have given the military the power to be in the dominant power elite. Even though the power elite make a small circle of few ruling the rest, they do not manipulate events in their own self interest. The elite, for the most part, respects liberties and follows the constitutional principles, it is not a dictatorship and usually acts in peaceful ways and openly to the public.[7]

A corporation is an artificial person established by the law. It nurses the same rights as humans contrariwise; they are not equally responsible for their actions. A corporation cannot face the same charges a human would, if illegal actions took place. Bakan illustrates the traits of a corporation to closely resemble the traits of a psychopathic individual human being. These traits are, but not limited to: “1) unconcern for others, 2) incapable of maintaining relationships, 3) disregard for others safety/health, 4) repeated lying, 5) incapable of experiencing guilt, and 6) failure to conform to social norms.” Therefore, executive’s means for earning high returns for shareholders can be seen as a trait of a psychopath. Yet, the corporation’s attributes are not based on the qualities of the executives outside of their careers. As Bakan would say, “the people who run corporations are, for the most part, good people, moral people.”

There are stories around the world about corruption and unethical leadership; these stories often make headlines in newspapers, magazines, and televised news programming. There is an abundance of immorality in the workplace; at the scale is at, it should be considered a plague. It runs rampant in all forms of business, in white collar crime and blue collar crime. White collar crime itself is the practice and history of unethical and inauthentic leadership in the professional world. Thus, while the direct and superficial focus is authentic leadership and behavioral integrity, the

Traits associated to a psychopath include irresponsibility, manipulation, grandioseness, lack of empathy, asocial tendencies, inability to feel remorse, refusal to take responsibility for one's actions and superficial relations with others. Modern day corporations display every one of the previously listed characteristics. Is it right that an institution, whose power now rivals that of the State that once created it to seek the better welfare of its citizens, display the psychological traits of a dangerous personality disorder? Many say no: there is a rising discomfort with the corporation and its pervasion into every sphere of human life and it is this uneasiness that has prompted many academics to further study the corporation and its

The elite is the selected few but does not reflex the needs of the masses