C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)

C. Wright Mills’ The Power Elite is a masterwork of political sociology and one of the most influential critiques of American power structures in the 20th century. First published in 1956, the book remains eerily relevant today. Mills boldly argues that a small, interconnected group of elites—drawn from the top tiers of government, military, and corporate leadership—control the most significant decisions affecting the lives of ordinary citizens.

What makes this book so compelling is its show more clarity and urgency. Mills doesn’t just offer abstract theory—he names institutions, examines patterns of privilege, and outlines how these elites sustain their influence through closed networks and shared interests. His writing is incisive and unsparing, yet accessible, making it as valuable to students as it is to seasoned political thinkers.

While some critics have challenged the scope of Mills’ conclusions, few can deny the lasting impact of his thesis. In an age still plagued by wealth inequality, corporate lobbying, and political insiderism, The Power Elite feels less like a dated Cold War-era critique and more like a prophetic warning. show less

On Crackpot Realism

Under-studied but profoundly influential intellectual of the 20th century. No grand theories, or metaphysical insights, C. Wright Mills just tells it like it is. This new volume of letters, speeches, articles, and interviews is a terrific addition to Wright's distinguished publishing record.

Summers includes a short introductory essay on Mills which is mostly biographical. Beyond that, I found his polemics against Daniel Bell's "end of ideology" and tribute to Thorstein show more Veblen most insightful. Throughout the essays, Mills explores some of his familiar sociological insights including 'crackpot realism', 'power elite', and 'cheerful robots'. What is not appreciated as much I believe is Mills's foresight in the "New Left" having seen how both the totalitarianism of Stalinist Communism distorted Marxist orthodoxy and how liberal capitalism had peaked with the high-modernity of the 1950s.

I think what most people will enjoy most about Mills and this collection of unpublished documents is how colloquially Mills writes. None of the postmodern pretension and highbrow academic jargon you would read from a sociology text today, and Mills's insights are still as valid today as when he wrote them which is saying a lot. Definitely a must read. show less

Perhaps one of the best, most detailed analyses of the power holders and power structure of the United States I've read so far. C. Wright Mills spares nothing in his description of the various groups that play a role within the power elite--the upper class (top 2%), the government, the military, the corporations--and how they take advantage of their positions and interactions with one another to reduce the public to a politically empty mass and to circumvent the Constitution and Law for show more their own gain. It is a weighty tome and does not lend itself to be read quickly. I marked much in this book, seeing uncanny similarities between the political world Mills described in 1956 and the one we see today. Nothing really has changed, only the names of the players are new.

His deep and logical processing of information demonstrates quite clearly how the People, who are supposed to be the political "backbone" of this nation and the true inheritors of its political and economic power, have been unwittingly manipulated into a position in which the only "power" they retain is that of creating and maintaining a stalemate with other mid-level political blocs which, in turn, vie for their own slice of the ever-shrinking political and economic pie.

Although not necessarily done deliberately, the power elite have used mass media, advertising, public relations, Hollywood celebrity and other propaganda tools to relegate the public to a position of powerlessness. The masses may believe they have a say in the policy decisions that the government enacts, but in most cases these decisions have already been made and it is simply the work of PR consultants and corporations to maneuver the public into accepting them.

What is so frightening about The Power Elite is how so little has changed for the better. Rather than becoming more aware of this situation because of the increase in media resources, we have become more blinded by the ever-present barrage of media images, sounds and glamour. As Mills rightly assesses, the masses have bought into the neo-liberal rhetoric co-opted by the conservative factions to legitimize their authoritarian position without having to actually reveal their intentions or the glaring flaw in their position: they have no basis in any real American tradition, and rely on the ever-changing present to keep the masses constantly off-guard and confused in order to obscure the fact that there is no real conservative ideology based on the same kinds of tradition found in Western European feudalism.

I also found the afterword by Alan Wolfe unrepresentative of Mills's work. It was meant to somehow give a contemporary critique of this work in light of our time, but unfortunately much changed in 2001 and with these changes we can now see what our predecessors could not. In times of prosperity, people find comfort in their caves--why venture too far beyond when the benefits inside are so satisfying? Yet, with economic uncertainty and global instability (climate change, war, uprisings, etc.) we are now having to face squarely what we tried to ignore the decade prior. Mills offers us a way to view the power structures of our nation with clear eyes and no illusions. It's a book everyone should read. show less

Now somewhat dated, this book is, and most certainly was, one of the most formative books for my young-adult mind, as it then was, and has it has since evolved. Mills thought the unthinkable, said the unpopular, and brought the considerable weight of his scholarship and experience of the world to the vital question of the day, and mercifully without the the characteristic jargon of the sociological discipline in which he worked. He understood and demonstrated the underlying similarities show more between the great modern empires, likewise laid-out the intrinisically anti-democratic nature of decison-making within them, and -- perhaps most important for readers today -- arraigned, tried, and condemned the mass-passivity and gleeful self-imprisonment which keeps such systems going. Because of specific changes in the old USSR and the Eisenhower-era US, my intellectual conscience hold me back from giving this a full five stars. show less