Elites in American Society

For the greater part, the American population has long accepted and cherished the notion of the United States as an egalitarian and classless society (Shotter, 1985). In theearly1960s, however, Richard Rovere (1961) cast doubt on this widely held perception, with the publication of his essay "Notes on the Establishment in America." While the concept of an American establishment is still not fully accepted nearly 30 years later (Lerner, Nagai, and Rothman, 1989), it, or its cousin, the concept of a power elite, is widely accepted (Christopher, 1989; Silk, and Silk, 1980).

The most spirited contemporary discussions of these con cepts do not emphasize the existence or non existence of an establishment or a power elite in the United States. Rather, such discussions are more likely to be concerned the definition and composition of an establishment or a power elite in this country.

With respect to definition of an American establishment or a power elite, some observers cling to the notion that a set of wealthy families are able to control the country, while others think that, while a power elite exists, it is actually many headedpolitical government, corporate, military, and so forth (Dye, 1986; Domhoff, 1967; Dahl, 1961; Mi

. . .
held by Milton Friedman. In this context, he stated that the view has been gaining widespread acceptance that corporate officials . . . have a 'social responsibility' that goes beyond the interest of their stockholders . . This view shows a fundamental misconception of the character and nature of a free economy. In such an economy, there is one and only one social responsibility of businessto use its resources and to engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game . . . Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundation of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible (Friedman, 1982, 133). As his statement indicates, Friedman views the concept of social responsibility in the narrow confines of profit and 10 loss. In the early1960s, concepts of economic and social justice, as well as concepts related to environmental protection, began a metamorphis and expansion. One of the notions being incorporated into the expanded concepts was that all institutions and organizationsincluding business, which derived benefit from being a part of a society, a
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Milton Friedman, Bureau Mines, Lundberg Startz, RESEARCH FOCUS, Andrew Shotter, Compete Economically, Silk Silk, Fourteenth Amendment, Societies Compete, Supreme Court, power elite, environmental protection, free market, economic growth, strong sustained, elite triumverate, market concept, free market concept, crude oil, power elite triumverate, racial ethnic, strong sustained economic, sustained economic, sustained economic growth, power elite structure,
Approximate Word count = 5065
Approximate Pages = 20 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Elites in American Society