The Power Elite

A bureaucracy is “an organized hierarchy of skills and authorities, within which each office and rank is restricted to specialized tasks” (235-6). Advancement of position is based on knowledge and skill, as demonstrated by examinations or experience. Mills argues that there is no real bureaucracy in the US because those in the top positions did not advance for such reasons. Rather, they advance through wealth and socialization—the "right" schools, colleges, clubs, and marriages—and are promoted through the ranks as a result of their similarity to those already in power.

Class consciousness refers to an awareness of one’s socioeconomic position in terms of class and its placement in the overall class system. Those with class consciousness recognize other members of their class and relate to them. Mills observes that the upper class in the US has a strong sense of class consciousness, while the middle and working classes do not.

Classical conservatism is an ideology that defends traditions against abrupt changes based on reason. It celebrates the leadership of a natural aristocracy that is qualified to rule based on merit. Mills argues that this ideology does not describe the American upper class, whose members possess only monetary success and do not adhere to any ideology.

Fate directs history when “decisions are innumerable and each one is of small consequence, all of them add up in a way no man intended” (21). Although advocates of the American system claim that this is the case in economic affairs, for example, Mills argues that critical decisions in the 1950s are made by a small circle of individuals.

Institutions refer to established laws, practices, or customs. Mills argues that the elite exercise power through institutions such as the military and corporations. Those institutions establish hierarchies of power and operate according to prescribed practices.

Liberalism in its classic form is an ideology that values individual rights, limits government in the name of freedom, and believes in the rule of law and popular sovereignty. The rhetoric of this form of liberalism is predominant in the US. However, Mills denies the applicability of these ideals in the 1950s, based on the diminished power of the lower and middle classes and the increased authority of the executive branch, corporations, and the military.

A mass society is one in which the majority of people are the recipients of opinions, as opposed to crafting and sharing their own thoughts. In a mass society, people are subject to mass media and lack the ability to effectively respond to such invasive and targeted communications. Such a society is the opposite of a democratic one. Mills worries that the US is transforming into a mass society, but he does not believe this change has fully occurred in the 1950s. Celebrities serve to distract the public from the decisions of the power elite, and there is no real process for the non-elite to voice their concerns or participate in national decision-making.

Pluralism is a benign view of interest group politics that posits a fair competition in the making of public policy. In this theory, decisions are made via a compromise after the concerns of the various interest groups have been heard and considered. Mills argues that pluralism does not apply to the most consequential decisions in the US by the mid-20th century, because these policies are decided upon by an elite tier. He further states that this form of fair competition does not characterize the middle level of politics either.

Political outsiders are individuals who spent the major part of their “working life outside strictly political organizations” (228), coming to politics later in their careers. Their experiences are grounded in their work for other institutions. Mills notes that the people in top executive positions in government are more likely to be such outsiders than to be party politicians or bureaucrats. Thus, they are not likely to have experience in democratic decision-making, having been authority figures in corporations or in the military.

Power refers to the ability to get one’s will or to cause one to do something. If one makes decisions or acts intentionally and, therefore, impacts others consequentially, that person has power. Mills argues that the elite—the President of the United States and the top leaders of the military and corporations—have the true power in the US, but their authority is often disguised behind public relations campaigns and the distractions provided by celebrities.