power elite

Examples of power elite in the following topics:

• Propaganda and the Mass Media

  • Mass media can be employed to manipulate populations to further the power elite's agenda.
  • They argue that such a portrayal was often used as a means to silence voices critical of elite interests.
  • The Power Elite is a 1956 book by sociologist C.
  • These two models—the propaganda and the "power elite" conceptualization—evidence how mass media can be used to reinforce the powerful's positions of power and interests.
  • Evaluate the impact of mass media as propaganda, particularly in terms of the "power elite"

• The Conflict Perspective

  • Rather, power also operates in hidden ways.
  • In that way, they were able to avoid any real challenges to their power.
  • People are then impacted by the creation of social structures, and the usual result is a differential of power between the "elite" and the "others".
  • Examples of the "elite" would be government and large corporations.
  • William Domhoff believes in a similar philosophy as Mills and has written about the "power elite of America".

• Oligarchy

  • An oligarchy is a form of government in which power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society.
  • Privatization allowed executives to amass phenomenal wealth and power almost overnight.
  • An oligarchy is a form of government in which power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family, military, or religious hegemony.
  • Oligarchies are often controlled by politically powerful families whose children are heavily conditioned and mentored to be heirs of the power of the oligarchy.
  • In de jure oligarchies, an elite group is given power by the law.

• Politics

  • From this perspective there are three major theoretical frameworks: pluralism, elite or managerial theory, and class analysis (which overlaps with Marxist analysis).
  • There are multiple lines of power that shift as power is a continuous bargaining process between competing groups.
  • The theory posits that a small minority—consisting of members of the economic elite and policy-planning networks—holds the most power.
  • Through positions in corporations, corporate boards, and policy-planning networks, members of the "elite" are able to exert significant power over the policy decisions of corporations and governments.
  • Social class analysis emphasizes the political power of capitalist elites.

• The Sican

  • Tumbaga, a thin sheet of low-karat gold alloy, was used to wrap ceramic vessels for the lower elites, while the upper elites had high karat gold alloys.
  • Other grave goods of the elite included:
  • All of these items required hours of labor and precious supplies, highlighting the power of the elite.  
  • After 30 years of uncertainty in respect to nature, the temples that were the center of Middle Sicán religion and elite power were burned and abandoned between 1050 and 1100 CE.
  • Perhaps the ancestor cult and aggrandizing of the elites caused too much resentment.

• Peter's Domestic Reforms

  • Through his expansive domestic reforms, Peter the Great modernized Russia but he also centralized power in his hand, significantly curbing the influence of the noble elites and the Orthodox Church.
  • Unlike most of his predecessors, not only did Peter the Great recognize the weaknesses of the Russian state, which at the time was greatly influenced by the class of boyars (feudal elites), but also aspired to reform it following Western European models.
  • While all these administrative reforms aimed to weaken the position of the old boyar class, they also moved Russia towards the authoritarian rule, where power was largely concentrated in the hand of the head of the state.
  • He could not tolerate the thought that a patriarch could have power superior to the Tsar, as indeed had happened in the case of Philaret (1619–33) and Nikon (1652-66).
  • As Catherine represented the interests of the "new men," commoners who had been brought to positions of great power by Peter based on competence, a successful coup was arranged by her supporters in order to prevent the old elites from controlling the laws of succession.

• White Society in the South

  • A clear line demarcated the elite, but according to Burton, the line between poor and yeoman was never very distinct.
  • Yeomen were "self-working farmers," distinct from the elite because they worked their land themselves alongside any slaves they owned.
  • This plantation-owning elite, known as "slave magnates," was comparable to the millionaires of the following century .
  • Serving as slave "patrollers" and "overseers" offered white southerners positions of power and honor.
  • Third, many small farmers with a few slaves and yeomen were linked to elite planters through the market economy.

• A Communications Revolution

  • In the early 1800s, newspapers were largely meant for the elite.
  • They generally took two forms: mercantile sheets intended for the business community, which contained ship schedules, wholesale product prices, advertisements, and some foreign news; and political newspapers, which were controlled by political parties or their editors as a means of sharing their views with elite stakeholders.
  • Mass production of inexpensive newspapers became possible due to the shift from handcrafted printing to steam-powered printing.

• The Colonial Elite

  • In New England and the mid-Atlantic colonies, the elite were wealthy farmers or urban merchants; in the South, they were wealthy planters.
  • As in New England, the majority of the elite in the Middle Colonies were merchants.
  • The Southern elite consisted of wealthy planters in Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina.
  • In terms of the white population of Virginia and Maryland in the mid-18th century, the top five percent were estimated to be planters who possessed growing wealth and increasing political power and social prestige.
  • Summarize the central economic activities of the elites throughout the colonies

• Administration of the Inca Empire

  • The second group was made up of the elite of the empire, including the emperor and the kurakas, along with various other dignitaries and blood relations.
  • Education was vocationally based for commoners, while the elite received a formal spiritual education.
  • The roads varied in width and style because often the Inca leaders utilized roads that already existed to create this powerful network.
  • This system meant that all goods produced within the empire were immediately property of the ruling elites.
  • These elites, such as the emperor and governers, then redistributed these resources across the empire as they saw fit.