A brief history. Political Climate of the 1950s. World events. Liberal or Conservative? World War II and the Cold War

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2 A brief history Political Climate of the 1950s Liberal or Conservative? World events World War II and the Cold War

3 Current state of the union Americans are losing their democracy and their ability to make decisions that affect their own lives and the direction of their country Mills believed that widespread alienation, political indifference, and economic and political concentration of power is a serious threat to democracy. Although Congress and political parties debate and decide some minor issues, the power elite ensures that no serious challenge to its authority and control is tolerated in the political arena.

4 The Power Elite (1956) Business Government Military

5 There is a power elite in modern societies, an elite who command the resources of vast bureaucratic organizations that have come to dominate industrial societies. As bureaucracies have centralized, the circle of those who run these organizations has narrowed and the consequences of their decisions have become enormous. The elite occupy the key leadership positions within the bureaucracies that now dominate modern societies, the positions in which the effective means of power are now located. The bureaucracies of state, corporations, and military have become enlarged and centralized and are a means of power never before equaled in human history. These hierarchies of power are the key to understanding modern industrial societies. In Mills view, major national power now resides almost exclusively in the economic, political, and military domains. All other institutions have diminished in scope and power and been either pushed to the side of modern history, or made subordinate to the big three.

6 Who are they? ETHNOGRAPHY Similar social backgrounds provide one of the major sources of unity among the elite. The majority of the elite come from the upper third of the income and occupational pyramids. They are born of the same upper class. They attend the same preparatory schools and Ivy League universities. They join the same exclusive gentleman's clubs, belong to the same organizations. They are closely linked through intermarriage. It is not a conspiracy of evil men, but a social structure that has enlarged and centralized the decision-making process and then placed this authority in the hands of men of similar social background and outlook.

7 Mills saw levels in American society below the power elite; at the bottom are the great masses of people: Largely unorganized, ill informed, and virtually powerless, they are controlled and manipulated from above. The masses are economically dependent; they are economically and politically exploited. Because they are disorganized, the masses are far removed from the classic democratic public in which organizations hold the key to power. Mills fears our leaders are acting (or failing to act) with irresponsibility, thus leading us to disaster. But this does not mean that it always must be so.

8 Just a conspiracy?! Military-Industrial Complex

9 The Sociological Imagination (1959)

10 Chapter 1: The Promise Mills is coming from a perspective in which he sees people in modern society as alienated: They are so wrapped up in their own personal lives that they cannot see anything beyond it. If they do happen to see beyond this into a bigger picture, they feel trapped or alienated They cannot make the proper connection between their lives and how they fit into a bigger picture. What most people don t realize is that individual lives and broader historical and societal circumstances are connected or intertwined.

11 People rarely attribute troubles or other aspects of their lives to society Success and failure People fail to see the connection between themselves and society Their personal troubles are hard enough to deal with, let alone being able to see the social structural causes that lie behind them.

12 Three Problems in Modern Society Alienated feelings cause many to become apathetic Information overload Moral breakdown Lack of common values

13 Information Overload

14 Moral Breakdown

15 Lack of Common Values

16 The Sociological Imagination! What is needed, and what we lack in the Sociological Imagination Allows one to see the connection between: BIOGRAPHY SOCIETY HISTORY Individuals can understand their own experiences and gauge their own fate

17 Debunk Allows us to see how we can become fooled or trapped into believing that our own narrow existence is the only one possible way to live

18 Relativity The capacity to shift from one perspective to another: The impersonal and remote, to the personal and intimate The capacity to see the relativity of different perspectives Lack of permanence, truth?!

19 Personal Troubles vs. Public Issues Personal troubles are caused by the immediate relations with other people Personal values being threatened Public issues transcend the local or personal Many structural settings overlapping

20 How modern problems are described: Psychological Biological/Genetic

21 You cannot do this! It separates the individual from society, which is not possible!