Is there a select elitist group that ultimately runs America? This theory has been researched before by social scientist and one scientific model has surfaced as proven. The Power Elite Model, constructed by C. Wright Mills, who believes that the Power Elite exist and control political decisions regardless of the procedures of democracy and political elections.

The Power Elite is composed of men whose positions enable them to transcend the ordinary environments of ordinary men and women. They are in positions to make decisions having major consequences… They are in command of the major hierarchies and organizations of modern society. They rule the big corporations. They run the machinery of the state… They direct the military establishment. They occupy the strategic command posts of the social structure…

The Power Elite are not solitary rulers… Immediately below the elite are the professional politicians of the middle levels of power, in the Congress and in the pressure groups, as well as among the new and old upper classes of town and city and regions. Mingling with them in curious ways… are those professional celebrities who live by being continually displayed. (1956, p.4).

Democratic politics in American society are mere rituals to the power elite. They allow elections to take place regularly and do not restrict the news media as to what they can and cannot say because they themselves know what the outcome is. Powerful interest groups play a larger part in the American political system than the people do.

Power groups and people with money are conspiring with the power elite to decide the direction of the country. To say that America is strictly a Democratic society is illogical at most. This society is and was set up for a certain people whom benefit and profit from the investments they have put into this society.

It is a joke when grassroots community movements mobilize to be heard in the political forum, and when certain celebrities are profiled to lead voting crusades. Many people say that the efforts does make a difference and that we should continue to participate in the political system. However, many others who do not take part in the political process of America believe it is a waste of time and may be closer to the truth than the former. It may make a difference at the local level, but not overall.

The way to survive in American society is to construct a social paradigm in one's own mind as to what life should be like and then pursue that life. In other words, abide by the immediate laws of the system while at the same time living life the way it should be lived by the laws and rules of true justice and democracy. Who says a person needs a social security number?

Source From: Sociology in a Changing World - Kornblum 2000

© 2005 by AfroStaff