Exam 14: Power and Politics

In his analysis of the power elite, Mills fails to recognize the power of________.

The two views of the role in the capitalist class in exerting political power disagree on how the capitalist class actually controls the ________.

Robert Hutchins argues that domestic policy is conducted according to one infallible rule: the costs and burdens of whatever is done must be borne by ________.

A flaw in the pluralistic model is its refusal to recognize the amorphous nature of power.

A most important impetus to the formation of the power elite was ________ .

The veto groups' model is an example of the ________ view of power, which argues that the power structure of the United States is mediated by a plurality of interest groups.

What three sectors make up C. Wright Mills' power elite?

Elitists see power as broadly distributed among a number of organizations, special interests, and the voters.

According to Mills, the leaders over the three sectors of the power elite come from the local opinion leaders who work their way into powerful positions.

According to Mills, the key decision makers have instruments such as ________ to influence the masses.

Labor unrest by troubled miners, farmers, and laborers were consistently met by a government that inevitably took the side of the ________ against the ________.

It is C. Wright Mills who identifies the dominant class as the approximately 1% of the population that owns a disproportionate share of the country's wealth and contributes a disproportionate number of its members to the controlling institutions and key decision-making groups of the country.

Describe common trickle-down solutions to poverty, and explain why they fail to solve the problems associated with poverty and inequality.

Discuss who the real power wielders in the U.S. society are, and compare the contrasting views on this topic of pluralists and elitists.

Describe the power structure that characterizes the U.S. economy, and discuss the consequences of its domination of the economy.

Marxists generally agree that the state serves the interests of the ________.

From the structuralist perspective, the system is viewed as biased toward the elite without their active manipulation.

Compare Mills' middle level of power with the bottom level.

As the power elite has emerged, a shift has occurred in the institutions, where ______ has been replaced by _______ .

The ________ view holds that the ruling class rules by controlling political officials and institutions through money and influence.