Like the Government and Corporations, Man Essay examples -- American S

When I first read the â€Å"The Power Elite† by C. Wright Mills, I saw the title and immediately approached it cautiously. I am a born skeptic, and to me the title conjured images of hippies passing around reefer talking about like, the Illuminati man. However as I read Article 56, chapter 13 of Understanding Society: An Introductory Reader, I was struck by rationally Mills approaches a complex and controversial subject. Particularly effective is his systematic approach of breaking his thesis down into observable facts and logical ideas. â€Å"The Power Elite† begins by defining who or what a power elite is. Mills then examines the crucial areas they dominate as well as the system that exists to support and propagate their influence. He ends by examining the situations that led to the creation of the power elite, how institutions contribute to their formation, and the historical context of the ever increasing concentration of power that has made this status possi ble. As I read this article many passages and ideas seemed to jump out at me. The first is when Mills seeks to define who the power elite are and how they perceive themselves. Mills defines the power elite rather broadly, â€Å"They rule the big corporations, they run the machinery of the state...they direct the military establishment† (Anderson et al. Page 465). However, it is what Mills says next that struck me as particularly poignant. He explains that the power elite do not actually see themselves as particularly powerful. Instead he says that they, â€Å"are uncertain about their roles† and that â€Å"No matter how great their actual power, they tend to be less acutely aware of it than to the resistances of others to its use† ( Anderson et al. Page 465). I find it humorous and some... ...posure of high level politicians, which is still incredibly disproportionate to the amount of influence they have, most of the power elite are unknown outside of the circles of their colleagues and those in the know within their respective fields. In essence, the power elite have had such an influence on pop culture, and their celebrity distractions are so effective, that the general population no longer cares about the huge decisions and possible ramifications that are made for them on a daily basis. One is often left to wonder how much more Fahrenheit 451-ish our society can get. References: Andersen, Margaret et al, comp.Understanding Society: An Introductory Reader. 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2011. 464-468. Print. Kendall, Diana.  Sociology in Our Times. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2010. 166-179. Print.