The 4 Freedoms Library

It takes a nation to protect the nation

The Power Elite is a book written by the sociologistC. Wright Mills, in 1956. In it Mills calls attention to the interwoven interests of the leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of society and suggests that the ordinary citizen is a relatively powerless subject of manipulation by those entities. The structural basis of The Power Elite is that, following World War II, the United States was the leading country in military and economic terms. According to Mills, the Power Elite are those that occupy the dominant positions, in the dominant institutions (military, economic and political) of a dominant country, and their decisions (or lack of decisions) have enormous consequences, not only for the U.S. population but, "the underlying populations of the world." Mills outlines the historical structural trends that led to the ascension of the power elite as involving a concentration of economic power and the cultural apparatus in the hands of a few, the emergence of a permanent war economy in the U.S. during and after WW2, the emergence of a bureaucratically standardized and conditioned (controlled) mass society and a political vacuum that was filled by economic and military elites. Due to the interchangeability of top positions within these three institutions, the members of the power elite develop class consciousness and a community of interests guided by a militarized culture, or what Mills described as the military metaphysic.

The book is something of a counterpart of Mills' 1951 work, White Collar: The American Middle Classes, which examines the then-growing role of middle managers in American society. A main inspiration for the book was Franz Leopold Neumann's bookBehemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism in 1942, a study of how Nazism came into a position of power in a democratic state like Germany. Behemoth had a major impact on Mills and he claimed that Behemoth had given him the "tools to grasp and analyse the entire total structure and as a warning of what could happen in a modern capitalist democracy".[1]

Contents

The book

Chapter 1: The Higher Circles

  • This chapter provides a description of the power elite and the mechanism through which it acquires and exercises its power on a national level.
  • He describes the contemporary means of power as the hierarchies of state, military and the big corporate institutions. Other, previously decisive institutions such as family and religion are pushed aside in the contemporary United States. They adapt to contemporary life, which in turn is set and determined by the new means of power.
  • Wealth, power, and popularity, in this system, attach to the positions that individuals occupy, and not to the individuals themselves.
  • The power elite of the US, which never faced competition due to the absence of feudal structures (aristocracy and religion), monopolize power from the get-go.
    1. It becomes a caste within the upper classes, and makes all decisions that have important consequences.
    2. It is not a group of rulers whose every decision is correct and every consequence of such decisions is as expected.
    3. It is limited by the means of power, the techniques of power, and the means of communication. However, their limitations are much less compared to previous ruling classes, due to the expansion and centralization in the means of power.
  • To study the unity of the US power elite, one should investigate:
    1. the psychology of the elite in their respective environments (their psychological similarities)
    2. the interrelations between the military, economical, and political institutions they are part of (the social intermingling of the means of power)
    3. the co-operation between the means of power (i.e. the military, big corporations, and state)
  • The main theses of the book, as set by Mills, are:
    1. Historical circumstances have led to the rise of power elite,
    2. They now make key decisions,
    3. The enlargement and centralization of means of power increased the potency of the consequences of their decisions,
    4. The power elite is much more unified and powerful than the "mass society",[2] which is fragmented and impotent.

Chapter 11: The Theory of Balance

  • In this chapter, Mills describes and critiques the theory of balance that constitutes an important element of contemporary US ideology regarding economy and government.
  • According to the theory of balance, the state and the economy are kept in balance by competing interests. In economy, this was translated from the economic theory that stated that there was no authoritarian center to the sovereign economic system. In politics, this was translated from the theory that the division of political powers would balance the powers and leave no space to despotism.
  • Mills identifies a number of flaws with this theory:
    1. Balance of power implies equality of power. However, one's power balance means for another a power imbalance.
    2. The doctrine of the harmony of interests / balance of power makes dissidence appear to be the source of chaos and disturbance.
    3. The prime focus of the theory is the Congress, however its members are members of the upper classes and cannot actually be the representatives of the interests of the lower classes of the society. Furthermore, the power in congress comes with seniority, hence congress people will have to stay in the Congress as long as possible, which makes it impossible for them to become dissidents. In the mean time, the seniors manipulate and determine what will happen in the Congress. And the major issues of the electorate usually cannot find space in political campaigns, the congress itself, or even the congressional committees. If they come up, they are structured so that discussion is limited to certain viewpoints and the substantive issue will be stalemated. It is not the political power of the Congress, or that of key Congressmen, that has expanded and centralized.
    4. The founding fathers' idea of a checks-and-balances-state is grounded in their belief in the US middle class as the stabilizer and the pivot of the class balance in the US. In contemporary US economy, however, the small entrepreneurs that once consisted the economy are replaced by a handful of centralized corporations. Moreover, the middle class has come to be dependent on the state and replaced by a new middle class (white-collar employees), whose jobs cannot provide them with tools (political freedom and economic security) to be independent, that is yet another part of the impotent mass society. Labour unions themselves became institutions that choose leaders and send them to corporate positions once those leaders become established.
    5. The 'checks-and-balances' system is outdated and inapplicable to contemporary US political and economical life.
    6. It assumes that the different balances that keep the society in equilibrium requires them to be independent of each other. However, none of them (labour, business, state, military and so on) are independent of each other any longer, and hence, they cannot be seen as elements of a balancing system.
    7. Major interests do not compete with each other, but instead co-operate to promote several interests as they coincide.
    8. The lobbies that are supposed to be checks-and-balances are now part of the state.

Chapter 12: The Power Elite

  • The American power elite has gone through 4 stages, and is in a fifth stage as of Mills' writing.
    1. From the Revolution through the administration of John Adams: as military, state and corporate entities were more or less united, power elite was able to move from one role to another.
    2. During the early nineteenth cc: the power elite became a number of top groups, each of which loosely constructed and loosely overlapping.
    3. From 1886 until World War I: corporations acquired the rights of a person and received the initiative to govern (from the state).
    4. The New Deal, from World War I until the end of World War II: competing (and balanced) centers of power within the power elite form in political and economic areas; corporate chiefs enter the political sphere.
    5. Since World War II:
      1. American democracy is now only a formality; State and Corporate entities became hardly distinguishable; democracy is being dominated by the corporate chiefs.
      2. As the focus of the power elite "shifted their attention from domestic to international affairs" (read: from colonizing the Americas to colonizing all of it), warlords became very influential in US politics; State and Military became hardly distinguishable.
      3. The economy is now both a war economy and a private corporate economy. Not the politicians but the warlords and the corporate chiefs decide about military actions.
  • The phrase "Power Elite" captures the simplicity of other theorists:
    1. Marx, with his overemphasis on the capitalist as the only holder of power
    2. Liberals, who see the politician as the head of the system
    3. Those who view warlords as the dictators of the system.
    4. Instead the phrase "Power Elite" forces us to consider the union of the military, economic, and state power.
  • He defends his critique of power elite as such:
    1. They may be honorable people. However, honor is not universal. The question is not whether they are honorable or not. The key question is what their honor codes are. And of course, their honor codes will be those that support their own interests.
    2. They do not, and cannot adapt to the necessities of their jobs as they rise in stature. They (i.e. no one) do not have such flexibility. They have certain personal and business interests and "to ask a man suddenly to divest himself of these interests and sensibilities is almost like asking a man to become a woman."[3]
    3. Like codes of honor, patriotism and its principles vary greatly. These too are rooted in one's personal history.
    4. One cannot argue that they are doing their duties. In fact, they are the ones who are determining what those very duties are.
  • Even though the power elite itself as a ruling force is constant, the individuals who constitute it and occupy positions in the dominant hierarchies of the state, the economy, and the military is not. Even though these individuals know each other, there is not unified policy / ideology that ties them together or in one position.
  • The inner core of the power elite consists of those who interchange commanding roles in various dominant hierarchies (the "big three") and the corporate lawyer and the financial banker, who play the role of the unifier between the big three.
  • The constant involvement of the nation in wars (and the making of crises as permanent and total) makes it possible for the power elite to use national security as a pretext for secrecy of intentions and in planning and execution.

Chapter 13: The Mass Society

  • The public (of the public opinion) is the essence of 18th century theory of democracy. This is a fairy tale: it is not even close to how the US system of power works – the issues that determine their fate are neither discussed nor determined by the public.
  • However, contemporary systems are transforming the communities of public into mass society.
  • Differences between (criteria for determining whether it is) a public and a mass:
    1. the ratio of givers and takers of opinion.
    2. possibility of answering back an opinion without the fear of reprisal.
    3. the opportunity for people to act out their opinions collectively.
    4. the penetration of institutional authority into the public.
  • In terms of scale, the restricted size of the public (by education, sex, age, and property [race]) turned into an enlarged mass with the only qualification of citizenship and age.
  • In terms of organization, there has been a shift from private communities to the mass party as the major unit of organization. And there is a widening gap between the leaders and the members of these mass parties. The members get lost in the crowd and the participating members become the leader's tools of manipulation.
  • With the expansion of the means of mass persuasion (also known as "mass deception"), the public of the public opinion became the target of intense efforts of control, manipulation, and intimidation. Opinion-making (through mass media and compulsory education) therefore became an accepted technique of getting and holding on to power. They now guide our very experiences, construct our standards and sense of reality, wants, needs, identity, and self. Hence they destroy any expectation of reasonable exchange of opinion.
  • The creation of a pseudo-world by the mass media is made possible by the structure of the society which enables people to choose only that which is of the same opinion as they are. The remote possibility of debate and discussion, let alone action, disappears as the experience of the public turns into that of the mass: narrower and limited to their routine and structural (out-of-their-own-control) environment from which they cannot escape.
  • or in his own words in The Power Elite,"In a public, as we may understand the term, (1) virtually as many people express opinions as receive them, (2) Public communications are so organised that there is a chance immediately and effectively to answer back any opinion expressed in public. Opinion formed by such discussion (3) readily finds an outlet in effective action, even against – if necessary – the prevailing system of authority. And (4) authoritative institutions do not penetrate the public, which is thus more or less autonomous in its operations.-In a mass, (1) far fewer people express opinions than receive them; for the community of publics becomes an abstract collection of individuals who receive impressions from the mass media. (2) The communications that prevail are so organised that it is difficult or impossible for the individual to answer back immediately or with any effect. (3) The realisation of opinion in action is controlled by authorities who organise and control the channels of such action. (4) The mass has no autonomy from institutions; on the contrary, agents of authorised institutions penetrate this mass, reducing any autonomy it may have in the formation of opinion by discussion".

Chapter 14: The Conservative Mood

  • The conservative theories that seek to legitimize the power elite's actions are faulty.
    1. The conservative defends irrational traditionalism against human reason and denies people's right to self-control and self-determination.
    2. Even though conservatives push for a certain traditionalism, the very people at the top of the hierarchy lack such ideologies useful for public consumption -their only cultural heritage is that of getting and holding on to money. They do not have any ideology.
    3. Simultaneously, because the US lacks the feudal stage, these conservative theorists also lack pre-capitalist figures (aristocracy, peasant, petty bourgeoisie etc.) to hold on to and to promote as models of their theories. They lack pre-industrial elements who might subscribe to these traditionalist ideas: the power elite itself abhor conservatism.
  • American liberalism has been made painless for the power elite. It went into a moral and intellectual decline in the last half century. Political rhetoric became monolithic, divergent liberal positions came to be employed in the same homogeneous liberal terms.

Chapter 15: The Higher Immorality

  • Especially following the second half of the 1900s, the US power elite has been getting increasingly immoral, irresponsible, ignorant, stupid (in terms of not valuing reason as one's key characteristic in life), and mindless in its quest for wealth and power.
  • The higher immorality is a systematic, institutionalized feature of the US power elite, and the general acceptance of this immorality is an essential feature of the mass society.
  • The mass society itself is also left without any moral standards to hold on to, or even rise against. While fear, uncertainty, and doubt is spread through military and economic crisis, "as individuals they are defenseless; as groups, they are politically indifferent." Even though most relate (and wrongfully so) power with knowledge and ability, some have given in to the immorality embodied in accomplishment.

Limitations and Criticisms of The Power Elite

Sociologist Christopher B. Doob maintains that C. Wright Mills' The Power Elite is limited in terms of elitist activity in society. "Mills provided little detail about the contemporary elites' activities. For instance, he never mentioned either the Council on Foreign Relations or the Committee on Economic Development, two elite-dominated, policy-making organizations that were already prominent players in his time. In addition, through no fault of his own, Mills described an era when it was still possible to analyze the power elite by focusing only on the United States. The subsequent expansion of globalization has made his theory appearanachronistic." [4][5] However, Doob does appraise Mills' work in The Power Elite, stating Mills was a "pioneer, propelling his power-elite theory into a pluralism-dominated academic world, where his novel ideas, according to G. William Domhoff, "caused a firestorm in academic and political circles, leading to innumerable reviews in scholarly journals and the popular press, most of them negative." Over time, however, The Power Elite has become a classic, recognized as "the first full-scale study of the structure and distribution of power in the United States," using the complete set of theoretical and research tools then available.[6] Both Domhoff's andThomas Dye's theories have built upon Mill's conclusions, providing more detail about such issues as the make-up of the ruling group and the process by which policies are established and implemented. Their more contemporary works simply recent information about this powerful group's role in society." [7]

Tags: -, Analysis, C., Elite, Mills, Power, Wright, by, of, the

Views: 7547

Replies to This Discussion

Paul: How does anyone think this gamestop issue will end. It can only work as a protest if the little investor holds their shares and is prepared ultimately to lose their money.

Yes, in the sense that any investment means you must be 'prepared' to lose your money.

I think the key idea here is of a self fulfilling prophecy by the hedge fund making the short. If, say, Gamestop is fundamentally sound, but maybe is slightly over-priced, but the shorting company can trigger a loss of confidence in Gamestop, and bring the price down a lot, and make some money for itself. But it was an over-reaction by the market - Gamestop wasn't actually in such bad shape, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

The Robinhood investors deny that bet and try force a return to reality, to market fundamentals like P&L, Assett values, etc. Their risk of loss is far lower, whereas the shorting fund's risk is potentially unlimited.

This is correct. De Beers sits on massive warehouses of diamonds to keep the price high.  De Beers was formed as a cartel by diamond mines with precisely the purpose of breaking any connection between supply and demand for diamonds. In the 1940s De Beers began a campaign with Hollywood to make men propose with diamond engagement rings to drive up the demand for these trinkets at extortionate prices. IIRC before the campaign only 10% of engagement rings had diamonds but afterwards 80% had diamonds.

You'd think that "competition authorities" would rail against these kinds of cartels. Not so. Not even the courts. About 30 years ago Asda in UK started selling big name perfume brands cheap. The perfumier cartel started refusing to restock Asda. Asda sued. In court the judge ruled that when it came to thinks like perfume (and we should also infer diamonds) that the public wanted to pay extortionate prices and therefore Asda had to charge high prices like everywhere else or they could rightly not be restocked.

Antony said:

Burning Wall St ; http://voxday.blogspot.com/2021/01/burning-wall-street.html

on another note about artificially high prices, I recall reading that diamonds would be pretty cheap, but De Beers keeps the price high.

1. This is what gives me some hope. What seemed shocking and unconscionable to PP in 2013 is now a view held by millions and as every year goes by more millions wake up to it.

2. We are seeing my 2013 prediction come true - censorship across the West on a scale not seen since WW2 (this is because of 1.)

3. On Tucker Carlson's piece on Fox there was a pastor who is one of those Reddit/Gamestop people. He says he's happy to lose his investment in Gamestop in order to highlight the corrupt system where the gamblers of Wall St are funded at the cost of the ordinary citizen.  People are happy to lose some money in order to fight the corrupt system built over the last 100 years. 

4. Now that people are starting to realise they can resist by finding the loopholes and ripping them wider I think we will see more of 1. and 2. and 3.

5. It comes back to Ayn Rand's dictum - you can ignore reality but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. The censorship is just an attempt to keep on ignoring reality.  We can see the reality with our own eyes.

6. We seem to have reached a point where people realise that it is going to cost them to resist the demographic changes, the corruption, the deception, the repression.  

7. A major economic crisis will magnify these things.

paul collings said:

If we look back to the start of this thread and the conversations we used to have, trying to convince people of a faceless elite controlling sections of our lives hiding in plain sight. 

How does anyone think this gamestop issue will end. It can only work as a protest if the little investor holds their shares and is prepared ultimately to lose their money. 

The Kleptocracy.
Defended by the Antifa-supporting DemoKKKrats.
>>
Literally the world's dumbest fucking people - the absolute dumbest, can't get dumber - are those who don't just claim but really believe Wall St. firms pay powerful politicians gigantic sums for banal 45 minute speeches because they want their wisdom rather than their servitude:
>>
Janet Yellen accepted $810,000 in speaking fees from Citadel, owner of Robinhood. Reporter: Are there any plans to recuse herself from advising the President on GameStop and Robinhood situation? Psaki: ‘No and she’s an expert and deserves that money.’

Gamestop Insomnia stream - Blackpilled ; https://www.bitchute.com/video/mInwZAkQGUBO/

I still don't believe there are enough people ( certainly not yet) who are willing to sacrifice part of their wealth, or well being for the greater good. It has to be for personal gain or most stay silent. 

The 'progressives' went after the education system which is now turning out the Globalist fan club. They are cheering on the elite. I'm sure this Gamestop buy up has upset a few Elites, who were probably expecting their usual payday at the expense of some real peoples jobs. But they'll just change the rules and carry on another way. Cut their losses i think is the term.

How many people have left Twitter, Facebook or stopped using Amazon. A few, but the resistance is futile. No one is suffering enough yet to be bothered with fighting back. Unless you mean people who are really fighting back. The starving desperate hoards leaving Latin America, Africa, Asia. They are still being clapped cheered and encouraged into the west. People buying a few stocks to upset the hedge funds. Its a distraction. And as you say it would most likely take a financial crisis before anyone really sits up. 

How many countries let alone people are ready for a full blown monetary collapse. It has to come one day. The markets will one day readjust to the new reality.  Supply chains are failing, jobs are going that will never come back, immigration is increasing, the people in charge are the actual accelerationists. Whole nations are now in total disarray, and the debt has been put onto as yet unborn generations. Never mind economic collapse. Wait until food stamps are back for the masses. 

Look at the brewing argument over vaccines between the EU and the UK. The damage that could cause to food supplies if not resolved quickly would empty supermarket shelves pretty quick. Biden has promised Americans 100 million vaccines in a hundred days. I don't think the elites want us to focus on real problems.    

Joe said:

1. This is what gives me some hope. What seemed shocking and unconscionable to PP in 2013 is now a view held by millions and as every year goes by more millions wake up to it.

2. We are seeing my 2013 prediction come true - censorship across the West on a scale not seen since WW2 (this is because of 1.)

3. On Tucker Carlson's piece on Fox there was a pastor who is one of those Reddit/Gamestop people. He says he's happy to lose his investment in Gamestop in order to highlight the corrupt system where the gamblers of Wall St are funded at the cost of the ordinary citizen.  People are happy to lose some money in order to fight the corrupt system built over the last 100 years. 

4. Now that people are starting to realise they can resist by finding the loopholes and ripping them wider I think we will see more of 1. and 2. and 3.

5. It comes back to Ayn Rand's dictum - you can ignore reality but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. The censorship is just an attempt to keep on ignoring reality.  We can see the reality with our own eyes.

6. We seem to have reached a point where people realise that it is going to cost them to resist the demographic changes, the corruption, the deception, the repression.  

7. A major economic crisis will magnify these things.

paul collings said:

If we look back to the start of this thread and the conversations we used to have, trying to convince people of a faceless elite controlling sections of our lives hiding in plain sight. 

How does anyone think this gamestop issue will end. It can only work as a protest if the little investor holds their shares and is prepared ultimately to lose their money. 

https://www.the-sun.com/news/2235308/eu-covid-vaccine-war-britain/

Maybe we should have bought Astrazeneca stock. Although not sure how much it will be worth if the Eu enact special powers and steal everything. Who would have any faith in a financial system that can be subject to elitist abuse from every angle, whether that be hedge funds or Governments. 

Finance Capitalism vs Industrial Capitalism ; https://www.unz.com/mhudson/finance-capitalism-vs-industrial-capita...

https://rumble.com/vdddo9-pelosis-dangerous-accusations.-rep.-lee-z...

The Democrats are fighting back against Trump and the GOP. While insisting the GOP are violent and Dangerous, going as far as accusing them personally of being the enemy, they ignore the violence by their supporters against the whole of America. 

The Dems need to incite the Ordinary People of America so they can bring about Martial law. There can be no other reason for this insane rhetoric.  They are baiting the Trump supporters and slowly grinding the GOP itself. They will either get a reaction from some lone wolf nut case which will give them the justification for implementing emergency laws, or they will convince enough voters that the GOP are Nazis and that will stop any come back at the Polls. 

The Dems have gained Power. And they do not intend to give it back. They have labelled Senators as Murderers and they will do the same with Trump. And far to many Americans now behave like North Korean Citizens. 

RSS

Page Monitor

Just fill in the box below on any 4F page to be notified when it changes.

Privacy & Unsubscribe respected

Muslim Terrorism Count

Thousands of Deadly Islamic Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Mission Overview

Most Western societies are based on Secular Democracy, which itself is based on the concept that the open marketplace of ideas leads to the optimum government. Whilst that model has been very successful, it has defects. The 4 Freedoms address 4 of the principal vulnerabilities, and gives corrections to them. 

At the moment, one of the main actors exploiting these defects, is Islam, so this site pays particular attention to that threat.

Islam, operating at the micro and macro levels, is unstoppable by individuals, hence: "It takes a nation to protect the nation". There is not enough time to fight all its attacks, nor to read them nor even to record them. So the members of 4F try to curate a representative subset of these events.

We need to capture this information before it is removed.  The site already contains sufficient information to cover most issues, but our members add further updates when possible.

We hope that free nations will wake up to stop the threat, and force the separation of (Islamic) Church and State. This will also allow moderate Muslims to escape from their totalitarian political system.

The 4 Freedoms

These 4 freedoms are designed to close 4 vulnerabilities in Secular Democracy, by making them SP or Self-Protecting (see Hobbes's first law of nature). But Democracy also requires - in addition to the standard divisions of Executive, Legislature & Judiciary - a fourth body, Protector of the Open Society (POS), to monitor all its vulnerabilities (see also Popper). 
1. SP Freedom of Speech
Any speech is allowed - except that advocating the end of these freedoms
2. SP Freedom of Election
Any party is allowed - except one advocating the end of these freedoms
3. SP Freedom from Voter Importation
Immigration is allowed - except where that changes the political demography (this is electoral fraud)
4. SP Freedom from Debt
The Central Bank is allowed to create debt - except where that debt burden can pass across a generation (25 years).

An additional Freedom from Religion is deducible if the law is applied equally to everyone:

  • Religious and cultural activities are exempt from legal oversight except where they intrude into the public sphere (Res Publica)"

© 2023   Created by Netcon.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service