The Elite

Power Elite by C. Wright Mills focuses on nature and function of the elite and how they unite to control state affairs and, to some extent, the non-public relations of people. Mills says "Elite are those who have the most of what there is to have, money, power, and prestige" (pg.9). In order for him to explain The Power Elite, he goes back and forth in time, how the power of civilization was shaped and how it has maintained unbroken ever since the independence. The Power Elite is made up of three branches. These branches are divided into economic, military, and economic. This broad group of leaders is the highest of managing all the decisions, while several are at the bottom, oblivious of the development that shapes the common belief. Also socializing with The Power Elite are celebrities.

The media functions as an entertainment source, keeping the masses entertained while the elite are taking care of all the important matters. It helps keep the reality and truth of the world obscured from the masses. Mills explained what the media does for the masses as "they distract him and obscure his chance to understand himself or his world, by fastening his attention upon artificial frenzies that are revolved within the program framework, usually by violent action or by what is called humor" (Mills, p.315). This helps illuminate how the mass media guides, tries to control, and manipulates the masses. Mills describes the effect of mass media as "a sort of psychological illiteracy" to the extent that we "often do not believe what we see before us until we read about it in the paper or hear about it on the radio" (Mills, p.311). The masses "standards of credulity, standards of reality, tend to be set by these media rather than by 'the masses' own fragmentary experience" (Mills p.311). Mass media's role helps prevent the questioning of the elite.

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