How useful is the concept of ‘elite’ for understanding the distribution of power in either Britain or the United States?
In America perhaps only race is a more sensitive subject than the way we sort ourselves out in the struggle for success. The eminent sociologist Robert Merton calls it the ‘structure of opportunity’. In the understanding of the usefulness of the term ‘elite’, there are some common historical variables, which must be looked at in order to appreciate the power organisms at work even in American society, and how from the days of Thomas Jefferson to the era of Newt Gingrich, the assumption of superiority is an undercurrent in American life and society. In this essay I will attempt to show that elitist power in America is controlled by a few at the top of the political, corporate, social and religious pyramid. Moreover, the concept of natural aristocracy, or meritocracy, has a powerful resonance even in the United States of America.
In understanding the usefulness of the term elite in American society, late 19th and 20th century history provides the pretext for what was called a ” fluid society “. This was a highly mechanized, industrial age in which people’s roles were being determined by their merit, talents, character and ‘grit’. By 1910, Harvard Professor Frederick Jackson Turner was influential in transforming this ministerial training school into an Ivy League institution, dominated by the children of a distinct upper class… most Northeastern and mostly business. This class came to be known as the Episcopacy, after its predominant religion – Episcopalianism. The genesis of the Episcopacy at the end of the 19th century represented the merger of what appeared to be an irreconcilable conflict between two rival elite groups: the old pre-industrial New England – based on upper-class norms, with its high-minded, non-urban mores, and the big, rough New York based – Gilded Age rich.
The two broad theories of how power work or is distributed in societies, the first suggest that power in the USA resides with its citizens (one person, one vote), or in the groups where citizens belong. This is called the pluralist view. Pluralists argue that power is distributed around society through representatives who act on behalf of others or other groups, and are controlled in expressing the wishes of the groups involved. The other point of view is the elitist view or conflict view. The argument is that in reality, power is concentrated in the hands of a few, a very small group of people (an elite ) who manipulate the masses through control of the media, visible government leaders, with a right wing conspiracy version which argues that the elitist ideology is subversive, anti-capitalist, anti-individualist, anti-patriotic, pro-welfare, and pro-one world government, with the sole aim of undermining traditional American values.
Within American society there is an upper class that gets more than its share of wealth, income and power. Its membership in controlling institutions and key decision making groups gives it disproportionate influence. It is broader based than Mills power elite and it influences, but it does not control Congress. It exercises control by financing candidates, its control of parties, its control of investments, and by being appointed to government positions.
Much of the capitalist wealth of America today has been created by a dynasty of some the nation’s richest families of the Industrial Age, i.e. the Carnegies, Rockefellers, Fords, Motts, Pews and others. According to research done by Middle American News, the Foundations set up by these rich and powerful families constitute a hidden economy of some $300 billion, a sum which exceeds the GDP of Switzerland and is used to bankroll elitist activism profoundly influencing social policy and legislature.
One of the important issues of the 21st century is monopoly ownership of the mass media. The issue is not that the elite own virtually all the Western media, but the fact that it is owned by a very small handful of media moguls. The shocking truth is that ownership of newspapers and TV stations has already been consolidated to such a staggering degree that unmanipulated news coverage has practically ceased to exist.
The current world situation was deliberately created by elitist power. Though politics and government are the social structures, which dictate our human existence, many are agreed that powers still rest in the hands of a mere few. The past 100 years has seen the development of both ” left ” and ” right ” elements, which are now designed through the process of globalization, to bring us into a New World Order. It is almost as if the skillful orchestration and manipulation of both the ‘left – right’ is placed in conflict to bring about a synthesis.
Bibliography:
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Dahl, R. (1961 ) Who Governs. (New Haven: Yale University Press ) p. 67-69
Domhoff, W. (1967 ) Who Rules America. (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall )
Dumhoff, W. (1968 ) The Power Elite and Its Critics. Beacon Press Boston.
Engler, A. (1995 ) Apostles of Greed. Pluto Press London, p. 39-40.
Henderson, A. & Parsons, T. (1947 ) Max Weber – The Theory of Social and Economic Organizations, p. 335. Holland, R. (1998 ) Capitalist Wealth Underwrites Assaults on Middle Ame