Re: Footnote: Power Elite/Ruling Class Re: A Major Division in the US Power Elite…
On Oct 2, 2006, at 3:02 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
On 10/2/06, Doug Henwood dhenwood@panix.com wrote: >
On Oct 2, 2006, at 11:12 AM, Carrol Cox wrote:
I think, using Yoshie’s rough distinction between power elite and ruling class, that it is the latter that should be subject to this
debate. Power Elite is normal politics (analogous to “normal science”)That’s not Mills’ definition, if such things matter to you.
This is the way Mills put it: “[T]hey [the power elite] are in command of the major hierarchies and organizations of modern society. They rule the big corporations. They run the machinery of the state and claim its prerogatives. They direct the military establishment.” It’s clear that only a minority of the members of the capitalist class occupy such positions, even if we limited ourselves only to US capitalists. Hence it makes sense to distinguish the power elite, who actually run major political and economic institutions, most of whom are American, and the capitalist class (i.e., the ruling class) who have invested in the USA, the latter of whom are multinational.
Mills explicitly rejected the concept of a “ruling class” of
capitalists, which is why he used the term power elite. Many Marxists
have criticized him for this choice - I’d say he was wrong to include
top generals, since they mostly follow orders, but I would include
top political figures in any ruling class because the state often
takes the lead when capital is timid or uncertain (e.g. the invasion
of Iraq, or the British state’s prosecution of WW I against the
wishes of the City of London) - but his power elite is a kind of
secular holy trinity.
Doug