Monday, December 15, 2014

Theories of Power in Democracies

I agree with Mills. The best way he outlines his idea of the elitist theory within the excerpt is that the elitists influence the secondary institutions which in turn directly effects the masses. This means that economic powers such as wealthy corporations, political powers, and military domains shape the way that religious, family and educational institutions go about their business and the average citizen works within these institutions just doing whatever business is asked of them. We see that in our very own educational institutions. Common Core was created by the head of Windows, Bill Gates spear headed the new school curriculum and worked his way through the political game to have it implemented. Did anyone else stop to wonder how odd it was that the Common Core curriculum is very computer based and all its programs are run through Windows.....hmmmmmm. Curiouser and curiouser. Anyhow, this is a perfect example. A very wealthy elitist, Bill Gates, used his influence to change the educational system by creating Common Core and now the common man, those within the school system, are forced to conform. 


1 comment:

  1. Although I understand Amber's point about the Elitist theory, I cannot say I agree with her. The Elitist theory does make sense and the rich definitely have a large influence on the government today. However, the way Mills and Amber describe our government, I do not believe to be true. Our government is not controlled heavily by the elites in our nation. Our democracy is very flexible and bends to the will of our people. For example, many interest groups exist and help to also influence or change policy making. The elites of the nation cannot ignore the wants of the people and must please the country, leaving them only a portion of the government's power. There is always going to be some genius or average person with one brilliant idea that affects the whole nation. We cannot stop how much money they make nor their amount of influence on the government. There will always be the rich and the poor in our country, but the difference in money does not with hold us from being a democracy. Just like it was phrased in De Tocqueville's reading, there will always be factions and a variety of associations in our nation. Ultimately, the Elitist theory does not fit our nation today.

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