SOCA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Elite Theory, Retail Park
Document Summary
A functionalist account: pluralist theory the social scientists who studied new haven politics in the 1950s followed pluralist theory pluralist theory. Holds that small groups occupying the command posts of most influential institutions make important decisions that profoundly affect all members of society. Moreover, they do so without much regard for elections or public opinion. foremost among early elite theorists was c. wright mills elites. Small groups that control the command posts of institutions. A self-conscious, cohesive group of people in elite positions. They act to advance their common interests, and corporate executives lead them. Mills insisted that the three elites are relatively independent of one another. The elitist critique of pluralism most political sociologists today question the pluralist account of democratic politics that is because research has established the existence of large, persistent, wealth-based inequalities in political influence and political participation.