Mills's three hierarchies
Mills (1956) argued that after World War II the economic, military and political hierarchies in the United States grew enormous and became tightly interlocked. Corporate executives, military chiefs and political leaders attended similar schools and social circles and moved between positions, effectively monopolizing decisions over war, peace and economic policy. He saw the public becoming a passive mass society, with Congress and interest groups confined to the middle levels of power. This can be seen as applying the elite theory of Mosca and Pareto to modern America.
The debate with pluralism
Hunter (1953) used the reputational method to study Atlanta's community power structure and reported that a few businessmen dominated local decisions. Dahl (1958) criticized the ruling elite model, insisting that one must show elites consistently prevailing across issues, and defended pluralism, in which power is dispersed. Bachrach and Baratz (1962) responded that there is also power to keep issues off the agenda, widening the debate.
Later research and assessments
Domhoff (1967) traced networks of upper-class families, corporate boards and policy institutes, developing Mills's argument empirically. Khan (2012) described how the sociology of elites has broadened to education, cultural capital and globalized networks. Gilens and Page's (2014) quantitative evidence of economic elites' policy influence revived the concerns of power elite theory, which stands with neo-pluralism at the center of debates over power inequality.
FAQ
- What is power elite theory in simple terms?
- A theory that a country's key decisions are made by a connected few, such as corporate heads, generals and senior politicians.
- How does it differ from pluralism?
- Pluralism sees power spread across many groups, while power elite theory sees it concentrated in an interlocking minority.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Mills, C. W. (1956). The power elite. Oxford University Press. The founding work.
- Hunter, F. (1953). Community power structure: A study of decision makers. University of North Carolina Press. Community power structure.
- Dahl, R. A. (1958). A critique of the ruling elite model. American Political Science Review, 52(2), 463–469. The pluralist critique.
- Domhoff, G. W. (1967). Who rules America? Prentice-Hall. Who rules America?
- Bachrach, P., & Baratz, M. S. (1962). Two faces of power. American Political Science Review, 56(4), 947–952. Non-decision-making power.
- Khan, S. R. (2012). The sociology of elites. Annual Review of Sociology, 38, 361–377. Contemporary elite sociology.
- Gilens, M., & Page, B. I. (2014). Testing theories of American politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens. Perspectives on Politics, 12(3), 564–581. Testing elite influence.