Question

According to C. Wright Mills, who would be considered among the power elite in the United States?

A. Parents
B. Siblings
C. Members of a high school club
D. Members of Congress

Answer 1

Mills in "The Power Elite" went on to describe 3 different centers of elite power in the United States, as he observed them in around 196O:

-- holders of great wealth, especially people who have been born into that wealth or who have achieved it through high ranks in business

-- top ranking people in government, including people in the higher ranks of some of the regulatory agencies as well as, say, U.S. Senators and other prominent members of Congress

-- the top ranking officers in the military establishment.

In many cases, Mills also thought, there were formal and informal overlaps among these three sources of elite power. People who achieved prominence in business life, for example, might translate their business success into political influence; men who became prominent generals and admirals might be able to turn their military successes to their advantage in business and government, and men who were powerful and influential in government might be able to use this to achieve wealth and power in business.

Also, many of the "power elite" in the military, the civilian government and the business world were from roughly the same social class, and in some cases were related to each other by birth or by marriage; they also were likely to have attended the same elite schools -- say, one of the more expensive and socially exclusive prep schools, followed up by a degree from one of the Ivy League colleges such as Yale, Columbia, or Harvard.

For these reasons, Mills thought, members of the "Power Elite" tended to think alike and to look out for one another's interests. This was not only or primarily because they were personally corrupt or dishonests. Instead, they tended to have similar moral and cultural values, in large part because of having similar educations, and they tended to be loyal to their families and to the upper-class friends of their families out of a sense of duty, loyalty and honor.

As a result of all this, Mills saw the "Power Elite" as having a profounding anti-democratic influence over American society, but not primarily because of their personal vices. They were more likely to champion the interests of their own class and their own institutions, sometimes at the expense of everyone else, because of their virtues, combined with their shared outlooks and shared backgrounds.

Answer 2

D.