UNITED STATE’S SOCIO-POLITICAL MODEL
The US socio-political model is a power elite, according to Mills, because it draws it political leaders who hold power, privileges, and a disproportionate amount of wealth. Furthermore, Wright Mills argues that political leaders tend to work or share similar ideologies, such as elite schools and prominent social clubs (Inoue, 2020). Besides, the US is largely governed by government elites who influence policymakers’ decisions, such as holding high institutional and influential positions. This paper demonstrates and supports Mill’s ideology that the US is a power elite.
Philips grounds his argument about the historical United States’ power elite from Wright Philips’ theory using conflicts between different companies (Inoue, 2020). For instance, the Global Power Elite having common socio-cultural capital, and their daily gatherings promote their relations and collective action. However, the elites mostly respect civil liberties by establishing constitutional principles and operate peacefully and openly. Additionally, the US political elites don’t derive their power from an inheritance but gain high seat positions in the political hierarchy and shared beliefs and values. Truman administration applied massive public relations tools to convince the public that foreign policies are always used by elite powers to pursue their interest.
Most US leaders have advanced educational degrees from prestigious universities globally and hold top positions in exclusive club membership. Additionally, the Federal government held that the US power is composed of three distinct branches and powers vested by the constitution (Engelstad, 2018). For instance, the US is still controlled by power elites because President Trump’s cabinet is largely dominated by corporate elites that any other government over the past century. Also, Trump’s populist claim still reflects his upper-class background and prioritize corporate interest, which has been deep roots of political life in many countries.
References
Engelstad, F. (2018). Models of elite integration. In The Palgrave handbook of political elites (pp. 439-457). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Inoue, H. (2020). View of Giants: The Global Power Elite. Peter Phillips. Retrieved from https://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/jwsr/article/view/931/1419