THE POWER ELITE

by C. Wright Mills ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 19, 1956

A further study of the organization of American society, (by a Columbia professor, author of White Collar, etc.) grapples with the nature of power, the routes of its bestowal and the minds of the men who wield it. Associate Professor Mills posits that the major institutions in modern society are its means to power and that the men managing them have more power over more people today than ever before. He presents an interlocking directorate of economic, political and military institutions to which religious, educational and familial associations are secondary as the controlling and commanding group in our society. He sees the power elite as increasingly unified; the middle levels as drifting in a stalemate of conflicting interests; the lower levels politically fragmented and becoming a mass society. His consideration of the elements of this organization includes the celebrities whose power lies in ability to distract; the members of high society; the chief executives and the corporate rich; the warlords and their ascendency; the politicians or men who have attained leadership from business and military fields; the potential balance wheel of intellectuals who have regressed to an inactive conservative mood; mass society as pawn. The indictment of his analysis rests on the indication that the men in power are neither representative nor chosen for ability or virtue but for their success in persuading their superiors that their own qualities are similar. A provocative study which should be election year reading for independents.

Pub Date: April 19, 1956

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Oxford

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1956

Categories: NONFICTION