Who Rules America?: The Corporate Rich, White Nationalist Republicans, and Inclusionary Democrats in the 2020s

by G William Domhoff

Overview

The 8th edition, already significantly updated, has now been further updated in 2023 to include the likely impact of the post-pandemic cutbacks, the overturning of Roe v Wade, and the Trump indictments on the 2024 national elections. These factors could lead to more economic growth and social support for families, schools, and health care—or an increase in inequality, white male supremacy, and social strife, depending on the size of the voter turnout by younger voters. At this crucial moment in American history, when voting rights could be expanded to include all citizens, or legislatively limited, this significantly updated edition of Who Rules America? shows precisely how the top 1% of the population, who own 43% of all financial wealth, and receive 20% of the nation’s yearly income, dominate governmental decision-making. They have created a corporate community and a policy-planning network, made up of foundations think-tanks, and policy-discussion groups, to develop the policies that become law. Through a leadership group called the power elite, the corporate rich provide campaign donations and other gifts and favors to elected officials, serve on federal advisory committees, and receive appointments to key positions in government, all of which make it possible for the corporate rich and the power elite to rule the country, despite constant challenges from the inclusionary alliance and from the Democratic Party. The book explains the role of both benign and dark attempts to influence public opinion, the machinations of the climate-denial network, and how the Supreme Court came to have an ultraconservative majority, who serve as a backstop for the corporate community as well as a legitimator of restrictions on voting rights, union rights, and abortion rights, by ruling that individual states have the power to set such limits. Despite all this highly concentrated power, it will be the other 99.5%, not the top 0.5%, who will decide the fate of the United States in the 2020s on all the important issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032139029
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/30/2021
Edition description:	8th ed.
Pages:	268
Sales rank:	519,941
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

G. William (Bill) Domhoff is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In addition to previous editions of this book, he is the author or co-author of 20 other books on power and diversity in the United States, including The Higher Circles (1970), The Powers That Be (1979), Jews in the Protestant Establishment (1982, with Richard L. Zweigenhaft), The Power Elite and the State (1990), Blacks in the White Elite (2003, with Richard L. Zweigenhaft), The Leftmost City (2009, with Richard Gendron), Class and Power in the New Deal (2011, with Michael J. Webber), and Diversity in the Power Elite (2018, with Richard L. Zweigenhaft). Most recently, he searched over two dozen archives to write The Corporate Rich and the Power Elite in the Twentieth Century (2020).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Setting the Stage for What Follows 1

Who Are the Top 0.5%? 2

Keeping Power and Politics in Perspective 4

A Guide to What Follows 5

1 Concepts, Definitions, and Power Indicators 9

Power Is a Relationship: The Social Science View of Power 9

The Social Psychology of Being Powerful or Powerless 10

The Pour Major Power Networks 13

What Does "Power" Mean in American Culture? 14

Social Classes, According to Social Scientists 15

How Do Americans Perceive Social Classes? 16

Class, Caste, and Colorism in the United States 19

Cultures of Resistance and Liberation, Cultures of Resentment 21

There Have Been No Conspiracies to Take Over the Government 24

Three Power Indicators 29

Conclusion 35

2 The Corporate Community 37

Introduction 37

The General Contours of the Corporate Community 38

The Unexpected Origins of the Corporate Community 40

The Board of Directors 42

Two Important Business Sectors in the Corporate Community 44

The Director Network as a Leadership Group 48

The Corporate Lawyers 49

From Small Farms to Agribusinesses in the Corporate Community 50

Small Businesses and Their Reliance on the Corporate Community 52

Local Businesses Form Growth Coalitions 53

Structural Power and Its Limits 54

3 The Corporate Community and the Upper Class 58

Introduction 58

Is There an American Upper Class? 60

Prepping for Power 62

Social Clubs 67

Women's Roles as a Window into the Upper Class 72

Continuity and Upward Mobility 74

The Upper Class and Corporate Control 75

The Social-Class Backgrounds of Corporate Executives 78

The Assimilation of Rising Corporate Executives 78

Drop-Outs, Failures, and Change Agents 80

Conclusion: Common Economic Interests and Social Bonds 81

4 The Corporate Rich, The Policy-Planning Network, and the Power Elite 83

Introduction 83

The Power Elite: An Institutionalized Leadership Group 86

Foundations 88

Think Tanks 92

Policy-Discussion Groups 93

The Creation of New Government Agencies 103

The Rise of Ultraconservative Foundations and Think Tanks 104

The Mixed Role of Universities in American Power Conflicts 108

Conclusion: The Policy-Planning Network in Perspective 109

5 The Role of Public Opinion 111

Introduction and Overview 111

An Overview of the Opinion-Shaping Network 113

The American Creed and Blaming the Victims 115

Benign Public Relations 116

Shaping Public Opinion through Educational Nonprofits 120

Manufacturing Crises and Spreading Doubt 122

Dark Public Relations: Attempts to "Enforce" Public Opinion 125

The Secondary Role of the Media 125

When Public Opinion Can and Cannot Be Ignored 127

Conclusion 130

6 Parties and Elections 131

Electoral Rules as Containment Strategies 131

Electoral Containment and Voter Suppression in America 133

Why Are There Only Two Major Parties? 135

The Two Political Parties: The In-Group Against the Out-Groups 137

The Republican and Democratic Coalitions from 1878 to 1994 138

Party Primaries Bring Wild Cards into Elections 144

The Big, Not Determinative, Role of Campaign Finance 145

Other Corporate Support for Candidates 148

The Liberal-Labor Alliance in Electoral Politics 149

How Did Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Win the 2020 Presidential Election? 150

The Results of the Candidate-Selection Process 156

But There's Still Uncertainty 157

7 How the Power Elite Dominate Government 159

Introduction 159

The Special-Interest Process 161

The Policy-Making Process 163

Appointees to Government 165

The Trump and Biden Cabinets: A Study in Contrasts 168

The Supreme Court: A Bastion of Corporate Dominance 171

The Liberal-Labor Alliance and Congress 179

The Limits of Corporate Domination 180

Conclusion 181

8 Examining the American Power Structure in a Wider Perspective 183

Why Are the Corporate Rich So Powerful? 186

The Transformation of the American Power Structure 191

Power and Social Change 195

The What If's and What's Next's 197

Acknowledgments 200

Bibliography 203

Index 235

Editorial Reviews

"Domhoff has been the master chronicler of power in America for decades. Who Rules America is a great American classic, indispensable reading for every American citizen. In this edition, Domhoff shows how the capitalist class is becoming even more powerful in our age of authoritarian peril, offering the definitive analysis of the tyranny of big money and the path to true democracy."

Charles Derber, Boston College, co-author of Dying For Capitalism and Who Owns Democracy?

 "The various editions of G. William Domhoff’s Who Rules America have been the definitive text on the power of the 1% corporate rich, their impact upon government policy, and the limits they impose on real democracy.  Domhoff shows that while their ultimate power never wavers, they face various constraints which force them to adapt differently at each historical moment.  Domhoff’s fundamental thesis has never become obsolete because he continually revises it in response to new circumstances.   His latest edition is essential reading for understanding how White nationalists within the 99% have become simultaneous allies and foes of the always dominant corporate 1%." 

Yale Magrass, Chancellor Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, co-author of Glorious Causes, Bully Nation, and Who Owns Democracy 

"Domhoff exposes an America that few are taught about in school. A nation where wealthy and corporate interests have effectively controlled economic policies since 1938... Domhoff’s teachings in Who Rules America? are more relevant than ever in 2022."

Randy Shaw, "Who Rules America? Corporate and Wealthy Interests Still Reign", Beyond Chron (https://beyondchron.org/who-rules-america-the-same-forces-since-new-deal/)

From the Publisher