Wright Mills 权力精英

In 1956 book The Power Elite; C. Wright Mills indicated the interwoven interests of the leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of the American society and the ordinary citizen in modern times is a relatively powerless subject of their manipulation.

Wright Mills 权力精英

作者：C. 赖特·米尔斯 (作者)、Alan Wolfe (作者) 2000 年 2 月 15 日

《权力精英》于 1956 年首次出版，是当代社会科学和社会批评的经典之作。C. 赖特·米尔斯考察并批评了美国的权力组织，提请人们注意三个紧密相连的权力分支：军事、企业和政治精英。 《权力精英》可以很好地描述其写作时美国的情况，但它背后的问题——美国在实践中是否像在理论上一样民主——在今天仍然非常重要。

《权力精英》在 1956 年向读者介绍了美国权力组织在他们有生之年发生了多大的变化，艾伦·沃尔夫为这本新版所写的精明后记让我们了解了最新情况，说明了自那时以来发生了多大的变化。沃尔夫整理了米尔斯书中哪些内容有用，哪些预言没有实现，列举了美国资本主义的根本变化，从激烈的全球竞争和共产主义的崩溃到快速的技术转型和不断变化的消费者口味。《权力精英》激发了一代又一代的读者思考他们拥有什么样的社会以及他们可能想要什么样的社会，值得每一代人阅读。

权力精英

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_Elite

社会学家 C. Wright Mills 于 1956 年出版的一本书，书中 Mills 呼吁关注美国社会军事、企业和政治元素领导人的相互交织的利益，并指出现代普通公民是这三个实体操纵的相对无能的主体。

背景

这本书是 Mills 1951 年作品《白领：美国中产阶级》的翻版，该书探讨了当时中层管理人员在美国社会中日益增长的作用。这本书的主要灵感来自 Franz Leopold Neumann 于 1942 年出版的《庞然大物：国家社会主义的结构和实践》，该书研究了纳粹主义如何在德国这样的民主国家掌权。《庞然大物》对 Mills 产生了重大影响。[2]

摘要

参谋长联席会议（1949 年的照片）是 Mills 确定的六个统治精英之一。

根据米尔斯的说法，所谓的“权力精英”是那些在一个主导国家的三大支柱机构（国家安全、经济和政治）中占据主导地位的人。他们的决定（或不做决定）不仅对美国人，而且对“世界底层民众”都有着巨大的影响。米尔斯认为，他们所领导的机构是一个三巨头集团，它们继承了或继承了较弱的前任：

“两三百家巨型公司”取代了传统的农业和手工业经济，一个强大的联邦政治秩序继承了“几十个州的分散权力”，“现在进入了社会结构的每一个角落”，以及军事机构，以前是“由州民兵培养的不信任对象”，但现在是一个“拥有庞大官僚领域所有严峻和笨拙效率”的实体。

重要的是，与现代美国阴谋论不同的是，米尔斯解释说，精英阶层本身可能没有意识到自己作为精英阶层的地位，他指出“他们往往对自己的角色不确定”，并且“不自觉地努力，他们就吸收了成为……决策者的愿望。”尽管如此，他还是将他们视为准世袭阶层。米尔斯认为，权力精英的成员往往通过在哈佛、普林斯顿和耶鲁等东部名牌大学获得的教育进入社会显赫地位。但是，米尔斯指出，“哈佛、耶鲁或普林斯顿还不够……重点不是哈佛，而是哪个哈佛？”

米尔斯将常春藤盟校的校友分为两类：一类是加入上层兄弟会的人，例如哈佛学院的波塞利安或飞行俱乐部社交俱乐部，另一类是没有加入的人。米尔斯继续说，那些通过这种方式入选的人，是根据他们在精英私立预科学院建立的社会联系而收到邀请的，他们入读这些学院是出于家庭传统和家庭关系。通过这种方式，精英的衣钵通常会沿着家族血脉代代相传。

历史上显赫的家族，如肯尼迪家族，组成了“大都会 400 人”。

图中是 1940 年的罗斯和约瑟夫·肯尼迪。

根据米尔斯的说法，控制三大主导机构（军事、经济和政治体系）的精英阶层通常可以分为六种类型：

“大都会 400 人”：美国主要城市中历史上著名的当地家族成员，他们通常出现在社交名录中

“名人”：著名的演艺人员和媒体人物

“首席执行官”：每个工业部门最重要公司的总裁和首席执行官。

“企业富豪”：大地主和企业股东

“军阀”：高级军官，最重要的是参谋长联席会议

“政治理事会”：美国联邦政府“行政部门的五十多名人员”，包括总统行政办公室的高级领导，他们有时来自民主党和共和党的民选官员，但通常是专业的政府官僚

米尔斯对他的书做了一个非常简短的总结：“毕竟，谁在管理美国？没有人管理整个美国，但就任何团体而言，都是权力精英。”[3]

接受和批评

在评论《权力精英》时，亚瑟·M·施莱辛格 (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.) 嘲讽地说：“我期待米尔斯先生交还他的先知长袍，重新成为一名社会学家。”[4] 阿道夫·伯尔 (Adolf Berle) 指出，这本书包含“令人不安的真相”，但米尔斯呈现的是“一幅愤怒的漫画，而不是严肃的图片”。[4] 丹尼斯·朗将《权力精英》描述为“新闻、社会学和道德愤慨的不均衡混合”。[5] 《路易斯安那法律评论》对这本书的评论哀叹道，“米尔斯先生对当前形势的悲观解读的实际危险在于，他的读者将专注于回答他的偏见性断言，而不是思考他真正强大的研究结果”。[6] 对这本书的评价已经变得稍微有利了。 2006 年，G. William Domhoff 写道：“米尔斯看起来比 50 年前更好”。 米尔斯的传记作者约翰·萨默斯认为这本书的历史价值“似乎有保证”。

在流行文化中

2017 年，Netflix 电视连续剧《心灵猎人》第 5 集包含一个场景，其中一个主角，社会学博士生 Deborah“Debbie”Mitford 撰写了一篇关于《权力精英》的论文。

在诺亚·鲍姆巴赫的电影《年轻时候》中，主角乔什·施雷布尼克是一位纪录片制作人，他引用了米尔斯的话，并多次引用其纪录片主题的专业知识以及艾拉·曼德尔施塔姆与《权力精英》相关的观点。

The Power Elite 

by C. Wright Mills (Author), Alan Wolfe (Author) Feb. 15 2000

First published in 1956, The Power Elite stands as a contemporary classic of social science and social criticism. C. Wright Mills examines and critiques the organization of power in the United States, calling attention to three firmly interlocked prongs of power: the military, corporate, and political elite. The Power Elite can be read as a good account of what was taking place in America at the time it was written, but its underlying question of whether America is as democratic in practice as it is in theory continues to matter very much today.

What The Power Elite informed readers of in 1956 was how much the organization of power in America had changed during their lifetimes, and Alan Wolfe's astute afterword to this new edition brings us up to date, illustrating how much more has changed since then. Wolfe sorts out what is helpful in Mills' book and which of his predictions have not come to bear, laying out the radical changes in American capitalism, from intense global competition and the collapse of communism to rapid technological transformations and ever changing consumer tastes. The Power Elite has stimulated generations of readers to think about the kind of society they have and the kind of society they might want, and deserves to be read by every new generation.

The Power Elite

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_Elite

A 1956 book by sociologist C. Wright Mills, in which Mills calls attention to the interwoven interests of the leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of the American society and suggests that the ordinary citizen in modern times is a relatively powerless subject of manipulation by those three entities.

Background

The book is something of a counterpart of Mills' 1951 work, White Collar: The American Middle Classes, which examines the then-growing role of middle managers in American society. A main inspiration for the book was Franz Leopold Neumann's book Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism in 1942, a study of how Nazism came into a position of power in a democratic state like Germany. Behemoth had a major impact on Mills.[2]

Summary

The Joint Chiefs of Staff, pictured here in 1949, are one of six ruling elites Mills identified.

According to Mills, the eponymous "power elite" are those that occupy the dominant positions, in the three pillar institutions (state security, economic and political) of a dominant country. Their decisions (or lack thereof) have enormous consequences, not only for Americans but, "the underlying populations of the world." Mills posits that the institutions that they head are a triumvirate of groups that have inherited or succeeded weaker predecessors:

"two or three hundred giant corporations" which have replaced the traditional agrarian and craft economy, a strong federal political order that has inherited power from "a decentralized set of several dozen states" and "now enters into each and every cranny of the social structure," and the military establishment, formerly an object of "distrust fed by state militia," but now an entity with "all the grim and clumsy efficiency of a sprawling bureaucratic domain."

Importantly and as distinct from modern American conspiracy theory, Mills explains that the elite themselves may not be aware of their status as an elite, noting that "often they are uncertain about their roles" and "without conscious effort, they absorb the aspiration to be... The Ones Who Decide." Nonetheless, he sees them as a quasi-hereditary caste. The members of the power elite, according to Mills, often enter into positions of societal prominence through educations obtained at eastern establishment universities like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. But, Mills notes, "Harvard or Yale or Princeton is not enough... the point is not Harvard, but which Harvard?"

Mills identifies two classes of Ivy League alumni: those were initiated into an upper echelon fraternity such as the Harvard College social clubs of Porcellian or Fly Club, and those who were not. Those so initiated, Mills continues, receive their invitations based on social links first established in elite private preparatory academies, where they were enrolled as part of family traditions and family connections. In that manner, the mantle of the elite is generally passed down along familial lines over the generations.

Historically prominent families, such as the Kennedy family, form the "Metropolitan 400". Shown here are Rose and Joseph Kennedy in 1940.

The resulting elites, who control the three dominant institutions (military, economy and political system) can be generally grouped into one of six types, according to Mills:

the "Metropolitan 400:" members of historically-notable local families in the principal American cities who are generally represented on the Social Register

"Celebrities:" prominent entertainers and media personalities

the "Chief Executives:" presidents and CEOs of the most important companies within each industrial sector.

the "Corporate Rich:" major landowners and corporate shareholders

the "Warlords:" senior military officers, most importantly the Joint Chiefs of Staff

the "Political Directorate:" "fifty-odd men of the executive branch" of the U.S. federal government, including the senior leadership in the Executive Office of the President, who are sometimes variously drawn from elected officials of the Democratic and Republican parties but are usually professional government bureaucrats

Mills formulated a very short summary of his book: "Who, after all, runs America? No one runs it altogether, but in so far as any group does, the power elite."[3]

Reception and criticism

Commenting on The Power Elite, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. derisively said, "I look forward to the time when Mr. Mills hands back his prophet's robes and settles down to being a sociologist again."[4] Adolf Berle noted the book contained "an uncomfortable degree of truth", but Mills presented "an angry cartoon, not a serious picture".[4] Dennis Wrong described The Power Elite as "an uneven blend of journalism, sociology, and moral indignation".[5] A review of the book in the Louisiana Law Review bemoaned that the "practical danger of Mr. Mills' pessimistic interpretation of the current situation is that his readers will concentrate on answering his prejudicial assertions rather than ponder the results of his really formidable research".[6] Consideration of the book has become moderately more favorable. In 2006, G. William Domhoff wrote, "Mills looks even better than he did 50 years ago".[7] Mills' biographer, John Summers, opined that book's historical value "seems assured".[4]

In popular culture

In 2017, episode 5 of the Netflix TV series Mindhunter contains a scene in which one of the main characters, a sociology PhD student Deborah "Debbie" Mitford, writes a paper on The Power Elite.

In the Noah Baumbach film While We're Young, the protagonist Josh Schrebnick is a documentarian who cites Mills, and frequently cites the expertise of the subject of his documentary, Ira Mandelstam's views as they relate to The Power Elite.