The Power Elite

Mills, C. Wright. The Power Elite. Oxford University Press; New Ed edition (January, 2000)

In reading the first chapter of Mills' The Power Elite, images conjured themselves in mind of the nineteenth century Russian aristocracy as portrayed in Tolstoy's War and Peace. This may have been more than coincidence since Mills does indeed take up Tolstoy's argument as to the independence of History from the wills of single men (a view to which Mills is firmly opposed) (pp. 25-27). However, Mills' depiction of the interacting and interlocking 'higher circles' of the military, political, and business elite (the 'power elite'), who control society, was not meant to describe early nineteenth century feudal Russia, but mid-twentieth century industrial, and liberal democratic America.

Mills does indeed seem to have a penchant for nineteenth century literature, particularly the realists, such as Tolstoy and Balzac (of whom he is also an avid quoter). In his own self, he combines these writers' shared powers of intricate description with their common trait of social criticism, to present a startling analysis of contemporary America.[1] It is perhaps this that Mills brings uniquely into sociological studies of class stratification, power and the state; with his nineteenth century perceptual lens and the new scientific tools of the emerging academic discipline of sociology, he is a able to see beyond the mere convenient rhetoric of liberal democracy, and straight into the alarming trends towards the centralization of power in America, and to the decline of the once proud Great American Public.

Using an idea similar to Michels' 'Iron Law of Oligarchy', Mills convincingly debunks the misleading myth of pluralism (or the 'theory of balance') that America is still 'individualistic'--in

any true sense of the word--and demonstrates how power has become increasingly concentrated on a national scale. The small businesses have been replaced though amalgamations and acquisitions by unwieldy corporations; the state militias have been superseded by a huge professional national military; and the local political associations have given way to a couple of large and barely accessible parties. At the top of these institutions are the CEOs, the Generals and Admirals, and the leading millionaire politicians and public officials, who are, as Mills shows, mostly derived from the upper classes of wealth, and who regard one another as of the same ilk; they have attended the same exclusive private schools and colleges, they frequent the same clubs, and they may even swap positions across institutions during their careers.

Yet, Mills clearly distinguishes the power elite from feudal elites, acknowledging that America was essentially founded by the bourgeoisie, and does not have a feudal past. But it is precisely here where I believe his thesis falters somewhat. For while recognizing 'that this bourgeoisie has monopolized not only wealth but prestige and power as well' (p. 12), Mills defines the power elite as the occupiers of the top roles in society's top institutions (i.e. the 'big three', comprising the military and political establishments, and the corporations), and not simply as the owners of great wealth, or of the means of production. That, as Mills claims, the 'very rich' have gained their wealth in the first instance from the corporations, may be true, but wealth itself is not attached to any institution, and once accumulated may be moved into, or out of, any particular domain.

Nevertheless, Mills' analysis is pertinent in as far as it describes the middle and upper-middle levels of power. He also gives an in-depth survey of the composition of the 'very rich'

stratum in the America of his day, but does not link this group with the upper level of power. (This omission is probably due to the fact that the very rich generally remain outside of the institutions--except when they enter them at the upper-middle or middle levels--while Mills' theory deals only with institutional power.) He seems to know this intuitively, maybe even purposively, but stops short from making this connection as the final link to his thesis.

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