SOCIOL 2S06 Lecture Notes - Lecture 28: Permanent War Economy, The Power Elite, Elite
20 Feb 2016
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Definition: interlocking set of people who control dominant institutions in american society. 3 dominant institutions: economic order, military order and the political order. The economy and military are in the strongest positions. Politics is in the weakest position (according to mills) The power elite has been shaped by the coincidence of interest b/w those who control the major means of production and those who control the newly enlarged means of violence (excerpt from the book) Mills also referred to a permanent war economy (e. g. cold war) the usa wanted a better military than the ussr. Military industrial complex: association between economy and military. Private corporations e. g. general electric that make substantial profits from defence contracts (they make the weapons that are used by the military) Mills was a leftist but was also influenced by patriarchal ideas not critical enough to point out how women didn"t have power in. They usually do not hold high positions of the dominant institutions.
