Blackwell Reference Online

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As a concept, “power elite” can be defined as a small group of people who control a disproportionate amount of power, wealth, and privilege and access to decision-makers in a political system. In a pathbreaking book, Mills (1956) claims that the US power elite consists of elite members of society characterized by consensus building and the homogenization of viewpoints. This power elite has historically dominated the three major sectors of US society: economy, government, and military. Elites circulate from one sector to another, consolidating their power as they go. Mills rejects pluralist assertions that various centers of power serve as checks and balances on one another – the power-elite model suggests that those at the top encounter no real opposition and it implies a concentration of power, wealth, and prestige in the hands of the wealthy and powerful in American society. Mills wrote that the power elite refers to “those political, economic, and military circles, which as an intricate set of overlapping small but dominant groups share decisions having at least national consequences. Insofar as national events are decided, the power elite are those who decide them” ( Mills 1956 : 18). According to Mills, the governing elite in the US draws its members from three areas: (1) the highest political leaders (including the president) and a handful of key cabinet members and close ... log in or subscribe to read full text