8.1.2: Power

 8.1.2: Power Let’s look at the second component of social class: power. The Democratic Facade Like many people, you may have said to yourself, “The big decisions are always made despite what I think. Certainly I don’t make the decision to send soldiers to Afghanistan or Iraq. I don’t order drones to launch missiles. I don’t decide to raise taxes, lower interest rates, or spend billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street fools and felons.” And then another part of you may say, “But I do participate in these decisions through my representatives in Congress and by voting for president.” True enough—as far as it goes. The trouble is, it doesn’t go far enough. Such views of being a participant in the nation’s “big” decisions are a playback of the ideology we learn at an early age—an ideology that is promoted by the elites to legitimate and perpetuate their power. Some sociologists call this the “democratic facade” that conceals the real source of power in the United States. Following this conflict perspective, let’s try to get a picture of where that power is located. The Power Elite In Chapter 1, I mentioned that in the 1950s, sociologist C. Wright Mills pointed out that power—the ability to get your way despite resistance—was concentrated in the hands of a few. Mills met heavy criticism, because his analysis contradicted the dominant view that “the people” make the country’s decisions. This ideology is still dominant, and Mills’ analysis continues to ruffle feathers. Some still choke on the term power elite, which Mills coined to refer to those who make the big decisions in U.S. society. Mills and others have stressed how wealth and power coalesce in a group of people who look at the world in the same way—and view themselves as a special elite. They belong to the same private clubs, vacation at the same exclusive resorts, and even hire the same bands for their daughters’ debutante balls. 

This elite wields extraordinary power in U.S. society, so much so that many U.S. presidents have been millionaire white men from families with “old money.” Continuing in the tradition of Mills, sociologist William Domhoff (2014, 2017) argues that the power elite is so powerful that the U.S. government makes no major decision without its approval.

 He analyzed how this group works behind the scenes with elected officials to determine both foreign and domestic policy—from setting Social Security taxes to imposing tariffs on imported goods. Although Domhoff’s conclusions are controversial—and alarming—they certainly follow logically from the principle that wealth brings power and extreme wealth brings extreme power.