C. Wright MillsRessenyes

1/22/23

NA

While C. Wright Mills does an interesting analysis of Marxist-Leninist theory in this book, it is a terrible disappointment to find out that only 150 pages are written by him. The other 300 pages (two thirds of the book) are extracts from classical texts of the left by Marx, Engels, Bernstein, Luxemburg, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Khrushchev, Mao, Guevara, and others.

The extracts that Mills has included in this book are fairly good (ranging from classical marxist-leninist introductory texts to many different revisionists of the post-Stalin era), but there is very little analysis on them. It is hard to understand the goal that Mills had in mind with this book, other than, perhaps, introduce the liberal and sectarian US-audience of the '60's to a theoretical overview of Marxism, without all the propaganda of the era. But is this enough of a contribution from a man who is regarded as one of the fathers of modern sociology? I think he falls short, and the event of his sudden death, the same year this book was published, left what would have been a very rich discussion out of the question.

Also, Mills might not explicitly admit his bias against Stalin, but he is not very subtle either in under-representing him and other Stalinist authors and going to lengths to let critics of Stalinism and the early soviet years to explain themselves: about 50 pages are dedicated to this, including a rather large section of Trotsky's "Revolution Betrayed".

All in all, despite that this can be considered to be only slightly above the traditional western criticism of Marxism, I think I'd recommend to anyone interested in Mills', the thinker, to read the first 150 pages and then move on. There are better introductory programs to Marxist thinkers out there than this one.

CX 21

Probably some good stuff here, but past the first chapter it becomes unbearably dense, and I was unsure of how each of the chapters connected to each other. Will probably appreciate more after it's taught/put into better context vis a vis other works of soc theory

Mills is the theorist of the power elite and holds that influence is held by a few. In this particular volume he describes the new middle class in the 20th century and was first published in 1951.

Classic study of the power holders in American society

Changed forever how I look at society and the middle class.

Perhaps one of the best, most detailed analyses of the power holders and power structure of the United States I've read so far. C. Wright Mills spares nothing in his description of the various groups that play a role within the power elite--the upper class (top 2%), the government, the military, the corporations--and how they take advantage of their positions and interactions with one another to reduce the public to a politically empty mass and to circumvent the Constitution and Law for their own gain. It is a weighty tome and does not lend itself to be read quickly. I marked much in this book, seeing uncanny similarities between the political world Mills described in 1956 and the one we see today. Nothing really has changed, only the names of the players are new.

His deep and logical processing of information demonstrates quite clearly how the People, who are supposed to be the political "backbone" of this nation and the true inheritors of its political and economic power, have been unwittingly manipulated into a position in which the only "power" they retain is that of creating and maintaining a stalemate with other mid-level political blocs which, in turn, vie for their own slice of the ever-shrinking political and economic pie.

Although not necessarily done deliberately, the power elite have used mass media, advertising, public relations, Hollywood celebrity and other propaganda tools to relegate the public to a position of powerlessness. The masses may believe they have a say in the policy decisions that the government enacts, but in most cases these decisions have already been made and it is simply the work of PR consultants and corporations to maneuver the public into accepting them.

What is so frightening about The Power Elite is how so little has changed for the better. Rather than becoming more aware of this situation because of the increase in media resources, we have become more blinded by the ever-present barrage of media images, sounds and glamour. As Mills rightly assesses, the masses have bought into the neo-liberal rhetoric co-opted by the conservative factions to legitimize their authoritarian position without having to actually reveal their intentions or the glaring flaw in their position: they have no basis in any real American tradition, and rely on the ever-changing present to keep the masses constantly off-guard and confused in order to obscure the fact that there is no real conservative ideology based on the same kinds of tradition found in Western European feudalism.

I also found the afterword by Alan Wolfe unrepresentative of Mills's work. It was meant to somehow give a contemporary critique of this work in light of our time, but unfortunately much changed in 2001 and with these changes we can now see what our predecessors could not. In times of prosperity, people find comfort in their caves--why venture too far beyond when the benefits inside are so satisfying? Yet, with economic uncertainty and global instability (climate change, war, uprisings, etc.) we are now having to face squarely what we tried to ignore the decade prior. Mills offers us a way to view the power structures of our nation with clear eyes and no illusions. It's a book everyone should read.

Lucid explanation of American 'aristocracies'. Slightly outdated, but not nearly as much as I had anticipated. Simplistic, but still insightful.

Now somewhat dated, this book is, and most certainly was, one of the most formative books for my young-adult mind, as it then was, and has it has since evolved. Mills thought the unthinkable, said the unpopular, and brought the considerable weight of his scholarship and experience of the world to the vital question of the day, and mercifully without the the characteristic jargon of the sociological discipline in which he worked. He understood and demonstrated the underlying similarities between the great modern empires, likewise laid-out the intrinisically anti-democratic nature of decison-making within them, and -- perhaps most important for readers today -- arraigned, tried, and condemned the mass-passivity and gleeful self-imprisonment which keeps such systems going. Because of specific changes in the old USSR and the Eisenhower-era US, my intellectual conscience hold me back from giving this a full five stars.½

On Crackpot Realism

Under-studied but profoundly influential intellectual of the 20th century. No grand theories, or metaphysical insights, C. Wright Mills just tells it like it is. This new volume of letters, speeches, articles, and interviews is a terrific addition to Wright's distinguished publishing record.

Summers includes a short introductory essay on Mills which is mostly biographical. Beyond that, I found his polemics against Daniel Bell's "end of ideology" and tribute to Thorstein Veblen most insightful. Throughout the essays, Mills explores some of his familiar sociological insights including 'crackpot realism', 'power elite', and 'cheerful robots'. What is not appreciated as much I believe is Mills's foresight in the "New Left" having seen how both the totalitarianism of Stalinist Communism distorted Marxist orthodoxy and how liberal capitalism had peaked with the high-modernity of the 1950s.

I think what most people will enjoy most about Mills and this collection of unpublished documents is how colloquially Mills writes. None of the postmodern pretension and highbrow academic jargon you would read from a sociology text today, and Mills's insights are still as valid today as when he wrote them which is saying a lot. Definitely a must read.

4 stars because it's a classic in the field and it's well written. Pinko commie propaganda! The afterword by Alan Wolfe is worth reading. C. Wright Mills was well known in the 1950's as a sharp critic of the power structures of American Societies. I read this book because I really liked his "The Sociological Imagination," another classic in the field.

Excellent sociology. Somewhat detailed and overwhelming near the middle but the ending is worth the wait.

Mills on pragmatism. very detailed

Lawrence Lessig on corruption:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT6CXwqzucY

In this RSA Animate, renowned academic David Harvey asks if it is time to look beyond capitalism towards a new social order that would allow us to live within a system that really could be responsible, just, and humane?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0

A Watson Institute video on the global trend toward Austerity budgets featuring Mark Blyth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmsjGys-VqA

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

"Meanwhile the bankers whine to their friends in the Press and threatening any government which even thinks of introducing a regulation or two, and yet the truth is that there is already NO effective regulation or oversight of banks. What there is, are gnat-like inconveniences which buzz around the places where the huge, shrouded machinery protrudes into the world of people and their governments for the purposes of being physically housed somewhere and for getting their hands on deposits and bail outs.

Those protrusions of the banking world are like the brass buttons on a policeman's uniform. They are just the tips of a massive machine which exists elsewhere and whose bidding the policeman does. The truth is most of the money in the world is not under any national jurisdiction at all. It is not physically in any country. It is not subject to any nation's laws nor those of any international body. Democracy has virtually no control over it at all. The banks print and control their own debt backed currency (that is what securities and derivatives amount to). And when, as has happend, the value of the bank's currency implodes, they use our politicians to loot our currency to replace theirs. And then bill us the interest on the money we have loaned or given them.

There are no regulations which oversee money or the banks once money is on the move. And keeping money on the move is what modern banking is about. It is an unregulated, extra territorial, global power for and by a global elite." David Malone

http://golemxiv-credo.blogspot.com/2011/03/regulatory-arbitrage-what-bankers-don...

politics, Marxism, history, f porch

An important selection of Weber's work.

Regarded as "great" on Forum, by Michael Krasney.½