Author: John F. KellerPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 236
Book Description
Power in America
Author: John F. KellerPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 236
Book Description
Who Rules America Now?
Author: G. William DomhoffPublisher: Touchstone
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244
Book Description
The author is convinced that there is a ruling class in America today. He examines the American power structure as it has developed in the 1980s. He presents systematic, empirical evidence that a fixed group of privileged people dominates the American economy and government. The book demonstrates that an upper class comprising only one-half of one percent of the population occupies key positions within the corporate community. It shows how leaders within this "power elite" reach government and dominate it through processes of special-interest lobbying, policy planning and candidate selection. It is written not to promote any political ideology, but to analyze our society with accuracy.
The Structure of Power in America
Author: Michael SchwartzPublisher: Holmes & Meier Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
In a collective enterprise, fourteen leading social scientists have worked closely to explore the power network connecting U.S. corporate structure with other key sectors of the society. In clear, non-technical terms, the contributors examine such issues as interlocking boards, business control of banks, the government as an agent of the ruling class, the "cap-ture" of regulatory agencies by the businesses they were supposed to regulate, and penetration of various U.S. insti-tutions by a corporate "inner group." In addition, this volume contains the first general analysis of the structure of intercorporate co-ordination among multinational businesses and the expression of business interest in educa-tional systems, transportation policy, urban investment, and academic political theory. Together the essays address not only the processes of cor-porate decision making and policy formation, but also the vulnerability of the elite to mass discontent, the fragility of its role in the face of mass action.
Ruling America
Author: Steve FraserPublisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674017474
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388
Book Description
Ruling America offers a panoramic history of our country's ruling elites from the time of the American Revolution to the present. At its heart is the greatest of American paradoxes: How have tiny minorities of the rich and privileged consistently exercised so much power in a nation built on the notion of rule by the people? In a series of thought-provoking essays, leading scholars of American history examine every epoch in which ruling economic elites have shaped our national experience. They explore how elites came into existence, how they established their dominance over public affairs, and how their rule came to an end. The contributors analyze the elite coalition that led the Revolution and then examine the antebellum planters of the South and the merchant patricians of the North. Later chapters vividly portray the Gilded Age "robber barons," the great finance capitalists in the age of J. P. Morgan, and the foreign-policy "Establishment" of the post-World War II years. The book concludes with a dissection of the corporate-led counter-revolution against the New Deal characteristic of the Reagan and Bush era. Rarely in the last half-century has one book afforded such a comprehensive look at the ways elite wealth and power have influenced the American experiment with democracy. At a time when the distribution of wealth and power has never been more unequal, Ruling America is of urgent contemporary relevance.
Studying the Power Elite
Author: G. William DomhoffPublisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000032108
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247
Book Description
This book critiques and extends the analysis of power in the classic, Who Rules America?, on the fiftieth anniversary of its original publication in 1967—and through its subsequent editions. The chapters, written especially for this book by twelve sociologists and political scientists, provide fresh insights and new findings on many contemporary topics, among them the concerted attempt to privatize public schools; foreign policy and the growing role of the military-industrial component of the power elite; the successes and failures of union challenges to the power elite; the ongoing and increasingly global battles of a major sector of agribusiness; and the surprising details of how those who hold to the egalitarian values of social democracy were able to tip the scales in a bitter conflict within the power elite itself on a crucial banking reform in the aftermath of the Great Recession. These social scientists thereby point the way forward in the study of power, not just in the United States, but globally. A brief introductory chapter situates Who Rules America? within the context of the most visible theories of power over the past fifty years—pluralism, Marxism, Millsian elite theory, and historical institutionalism. Then, a chapter by G. William Domhoff, the author of Who Rules America?, takes us behind the scenes on how the original version was researched and written, tracing the evolution of the book in terms of new concepts and research discoveries by Domhoff himself, as well as many other power structure researchers, through the 2014 seventh edition. Readers will find differences of opinion and analysis from chapter to chapter. The authors were encouraged to express their views independently and frankly. They do so in an admirable and useful fashion that will stimulate everyone’s thinking on these difficult and complex issues, setting the agenda for future studies of power.
Affluence and Influence
Author: Martin GilensPublisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691153973
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 348
Book Description
Why policymaking in the United States privileges the rich over the poor Can a country be a democracy if its government only responds to the preferences of the rich? In an ideal democracy, all citizens should have equal influence on government policy—but as this book demonstrates, America's policymakers respond almost exclusively to the preferences of the economically advantaged. Affluence and Influence definitively explores how political inequality in the United States has evolved over the last several decades and how this growing disparity has been shaped by interest groups, parties, and elections. With sharp analysis and an impressive range of data, Martin Gilens looks at thousands of proposed policy changes, and the degree of support for each among poor, middle-class, and affluent Americans. His findings are staggering: when preferences of low- or middle-income Americans diverge from those of the affluent, there is virtually no relationship between policy outcomes and the desires of less advantaged groups. In contrast, affluent Americans' preferences exhibit a substantial relationship with policy outcomes whether their preferences are shared by lower-income groups or not. Gilens shows that representational inequality is spread widely across different policy domains and time periods. Yet Gilens also shows that under specific circumstances the preferences of the middle class and, to a lesser extent, the poor, do seem to matter. In particular, impending elections—especially presidential elections—and an even partisan division in Congress mitigate representational inequality and boost responsiveness to the preferences of the broader public. At a time when economic and political inequality in the United States only continues to rise, Affluence and Influence raises important questions about whether American democracy is truly responding to the needs of all its citizens.
The Corporate Rich and the Power Elite in the Twentieth Century
Author: G. William DomhoffPublisher:
ISBN: 9780367252021
Category : Corporations
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
This book demonstrates exactly how the corporate rich developed and implemented the policies and government structures that allowed them to dominate America in the 20th-century. Written with unparalleled insight, Domhoff offers a remarkable look into the nature of power during a pivotal time, with added significance for the current era.
Gangs of America
Author: Ted NacePublisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1576753190
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 314
Book Description
'Gangs of America' traces the evolution of the corporation, one of the core institutions of the modern world. It ties political debates about multi-national trade agreements, financial scandals and scores of other specific issues into the narrative account.
Political Power in America
Author: Anthony R. DiMaggioPublisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438476957
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 514
Book Description
Analyzing major political institutions such as Congress, the courts, the presidency, and the media, this book chronicles how the interests of affluent Americans—particularly business, professional, and corporate interests—dominate over those of "average" citizens. Anthony R. DiMaggio examines American political behavior, as it relates to lobbying, citizen activism, media consumption, and voting, to demonstrate how the public is often misinformed and manipulated regarding major political and economic matters. However, record public distrust of the government and the increasing popularity of mass protests suggest that most Americans are deeply unhappy with the political status quo, and many are willing to fight for change. Political Power in America details this interplay between a political system dominated by the affluent few and the rise of mass political distrust and protest. It offers information and tools needed to better understand the democratic deficit in American politics, while providing opportunities for discussing what we might do to address the mounting crisis of declining democracy.
The Price of Power
Author: Herbert AgarPublisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226009378
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 213
Book Description
Review and appraisal of the United States position in world politics since the close of World War 2.