Who Rules America? (8th edition)

Table of Contents

Introduction: Setting the Stage for What Follows

• Keeping Power and Politics in Perspective
• A Guide to What Follows

Chapter 1: Concepts, Definitions, and Power Indicators

• Power Is a Relationship: The Social Science View of Power
• The Social Psychology of Being Powerful Or Powerless
• The Four Major Power Networks
• Cultures of Resistance, Cultures of Resentment
• There Have Been No Conspiracies to Take Over the Government
• What Does "Power" Mean in American Culture?
• Social Classes, According to Social Scientists
• How Do Americans Perceive Social Classes?
• Class, Caste, and Colorism in the United States
• Three Power Indicators
• Conclusion

Chapter 2: The Corporate Community

• Introduction
• The General Contours of the Corporate Community
• The Unexpected Origins of the Corporate Community
• The Board of Directors
• Two Important Business Sectors in the Corporate Community
• The Director Network as a Leadership Group
• The Corporate Lawyers
• From Small Farms to Agri-Businesses in the Corporate Community
• Small Businesses and Their Reliance on the Corporate Community
• Local Businesses Form Growth Coalitions
• Structural Power and Its Limits

Chapter 3: The Corporate Community and the Upper Class

• Introduction
• Is There an American Upper Class?
• Prepping for Power
• Social Clubs
• Women's Roles as a Window Into the Upper Class
• Continuity and Upward Mobility
• The Upper Class and Corporate Control
• The Social-Class Backgrounds of Corporate Executives
• The Assimilation of Rising Corporate Executives
• Drop-Outs, Failures, and Change Agents
• Conclusion: Common Economic Interests and Social Bonds

Chapter 4: The Corporate Rich, The Policy-Planning Network, and the Power Elite

• Introduction
• The Power Elite: An Institutionalized Leadership Group
• Foundations
• Think Tanks
• Policy-Discussion Groups
• The Creation of New Government Agencies
• The Rise of Ultraconservative Foundations & Think Tanks
• The Mixed Role of Universities in American Power Conflicts
• Conclusion: The Policy-Planning Network in Perspective

Chapter 5: The Role of Public Opinion

• Introduction and Overview
• An Overview of the Opinion-Shaping Network
• The American Creed and Blaming the Victims
• Benign Public Relations
• Shaping Public Opinion Through Educational Nonprofits
• Manufacturing Crises and Spreading Doubt
• Dark Public Relations: Attempts to "Enforce" Public Opinion
• The Secondary Role of the Media
• When Public Opinion Can and Cannot Be Ignored
• Conclusion

Chapter 6: Parties and Elections

• Electoral Rules as Containment Strategies
• Electoral Containment and Voter Suppression in America
• How Elections Nonetheless Matter
• Why Are There Only Two Major Parties?
• The Two Political Parties: The In-Group Against the Out-Groups
• The Republican and Democratic Coalitions From 1878 to 1994
• Party Primaries Bring Wild Cards Into Elections
• The Big, Not Determinative, Role of Campaign Finance
• Other Corporate Support for Candidates
• The Liberal-Labor Alliance in Electoral Politics
• Persuadable Centrists and Moderates Usually Decide Elections
• The Results of the Candidate-Selection Process
• But There's Still Uncertainty

Chapter 7: How the Power Elite Dominate Government

• Introduction
• The Special-Interest Process
• The Policy- Making Process
• Appointees to Government
• The Trump and Biden Cabinets: A Study in Contrasts
• The Supreme Court: A Bastion of Corporate Dominance
• The Liberal-Labor Alliance and Congress
• The Limits of Corporate Domination
• Conclusion

Chapter 8: Examining the American Power Structure in a Wider Perspective

• Why Are the Corporate Rich So Powerful?
• The Transformation of the American Power Structure
• African Americans Squeeze Out Conservative Southern Democrats
• Power and Social Change
• The What Ifs and What's Nexts

Acknowledgements

References