The Class-Domination Theory of Power
As argued in Who Rules America?, the owners and top executives of the largest corporations, banks, investment firms, and agri-businesses come together as a corporate community. Their enormous economic resources give them the "structural economic power" that is the basis for dominating the federal government through lobbying, campaign finance, appointments to key government positions, and a policy-planning network made up of foundations, think tanks, and policy-discussion groups. The CEOs and biggest owners in the corporate community, along with the top executives at the foundations, think tanks, and policy-discussion groups, work together as a leadership group that I call the power elite. However, they do fight among themselves sometimes, leading to moderate-conservative and ultra-conservative factions in the power elite.
This class-domination theory developed out of Power Structure Research going back to the 1950s. WhoRulesAmerica.net now provides a larger context for this theory through a detailed discussion of sociologist Michael Mann's more recent Four Networks theory of the sources of power in societies in general. (This theory is also known as the "IEMP Model" because it says that power is based in the intertwining of four organizational networks -- Ideological, Economic, Military, and Political.)
Wealth, Income, and Power
This document presents details on the wealth and income distributions in the United States, and explains how we use these two distributions as power indicators. Some of the information, especially the numbers showing the ratio of the average CEO's paycheck to that of the average factory worker, is downright shocking.
The Corporate Community
To provide an overview of the corporate community, I've gone into more detail about the network that is created by interlocking directorates, i.e., the connections among corporations that are created by corporate directors who sit on two or more boards of directors.
The Ford Foundation and its Allies in the Inner City
To demonstrate how foundations and other nonprofits operate as an extension of the corporate community, I discuss how the Ford Foundation and its allies have tried to contain and ameliorate the tensions and turmoil that have developed in major urban areas since the 1950s due to urban renewal and the rapid urbanization of large rural populations, especially African-Americans.
Federal Advisory Committees
As an example of the many ways that the power elite directly involve themselves in government, I show how unpaid federal advisory committees give advice to various departments of the executive branch, including an in-depth study of one of these committees based on the minutes of its meetings.
Power at the Local Level
A different segment of the dominant class, the owners of land and buildings, has the lion's share of power at the local level. They join together in each city as growth coalitions.
Opposition to the Power Structure
The power elite and the growth coalitions do not have all the power. They do face opposition from a liberal-labor coalition at the national level and from neighborhoods, environmentalists, and left activists at the local level.
Social Cohesion
To demonstrate the social cohesion of the power elite, I've assembled a document (including photos) on the Bohemian Grove, a playground for the powerful that serves as their summer camp for the last two weeks of July in the redwoods of Northern California.
This document's URL: http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/index.html
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