Power Elite Research Paper

Words: 746
Pages: 3

Elitism is a select group of individuals who have dominant power in dominating institutions. According to C. Wright Mill the power elites are composed of executives, high ranking military officers, and corporate leaders. These power elites play key roles in the economy, government, and military institutions. Their power is rooted in authority an attribute of social organizations, not of individuals within society. They make decisions to protect their own self interest beyond the interest of society. Power elites hold key leadership positions within bureaucracies which now dominate modern democratic societies. They join exclusive clubs, attend Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Yale, and belong to the same organizations. A majority of elites …show more content…
The bureaucracies of state, corporations, and military have become centralized and are a means of power never before equaled in human history. These institutions that form Mills interlocking triangle are the upper class elites that consist of wealthy politicians, executives in million dollar corporations, and high ranking military officials in military establishment. These three structures make up most of the elite in power because of their wealth, power, and prestigious status. These elites run big corporations, the machinery of the state and the rights, and direct military establishment. According to Mills view major national powers now reside almost exclusively in the economic, political, and military domains. All other institutions within society have diminished in scope and their power has been either pushed to the side or made subordinate to the three major institutions of modern society. Of the three institutional powers, Mills claims, that the corporate power is the most dominant and powerful. The power elite cannot be understood only through economic elites, but rather through an alliance between economic, political, and military power. Mills also saw two other levels of power within American society that were below the power elite. The middle power was composed of opinion leaders and special interest groups, that neither represent the masses nor have any effect on the elites. The lower power was considered the great masses of people within society. These individuals were largely unorganized, uneducated, had virtually have no power, they are controlled and manipulated by the