The American Utopian - Literature review Example

Charles.W.Mills "The American Utopian" ".C. Wright Mills, true voice of North America, friend and companion in the struggle of Latin America". Carlos Fuentes in his dedication in his book Artemio Cruz (1962) Introduction Renowned American Sociologist Charles Wright Mills was born on August 28, 1916 at Waco, Texas. He was a graduate from the University of Texas and had a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He remained a member of the faculty position at Columbia University in 1946 until his death in 1962. In short Mills lived a controversial life. He was angered by the oppression of the working classes and widely criticized for his support for Fidel Castro and constantly attacked what he called US imperialism. Yet 50 years later he is still the most widely read sociologist and the terms and phrases he coined during his career have become famous and a part and parcel of the jargon of sociology and politics. Mills is known for his masterpieces like "The New Men of Power: America's Labor Leaders" (1948) which is basically a study of the Labour Metaphysics and how labour leaders have cooperated with the business officials to the disadvantage of the worker,while the workforce stays happy with mere "bread and butter" and has assumed a rather subordinate to role to such leaders. Another one of his classics is the book White Collar: The American Middle Classes (1951) which continues his stance against the officials and the bureaucracy who he accuses of suppressing the common individual by the tactic of overworking him and charging him a large amount of taxes. The immense work pressure on the worker causes him to suffer from alienation and imposes upon him a robot like existence in return for financial remuneration. His other important works include The Sociological Imagination (1959) in which he has tried to demonstrate a link between history biography and sociology. Other works include The Causes of World War Three (1958), Listen, Yankee: The Revolution in Cuba (1960), and The Marxists (1962). Academics have argued over whether Mills was a Marxist or a follower of liberalism. He felt more comfortable as a humanist Marxist than being called a follower of Max Weber. Mills was in agreement with other Marxist sociologists that the American suffers from the great divide between the weak and the powerful. The weak are suppressed and they feel alienated. He has made some interesting observations in his works like the one below; When, in a city of 100,000, only one man is unemployed, that is his personal trouble, and for its relief we properly look to the character of the man, his skills, and his immediate opportunities. But when in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million men are unemployed, that is an issue, and we may not hope to find its solution within the range of opportunities open to any one individual. ( The Sociological Imagination 1959). The Power Elite Coming to one of his most prominent works, in 1956 he wrote the book The Power Elite (1956) in which he has analysed the US structure of power in its three forms i.e. the political, military, and economic elite whom he accuses of sharing similar views which are aimed at suppressing the working classes. The book was tremendously influential when it came out and even today it is a source of inspiration in socio-political academics. He has focused on the power structure of the US politics and military in the post World War II era. The Power Elite reflects a kind of trilogy of the US society and it was a follow up to his other books like The New Men of Power (1948) and White Collar (1951).Like all masterpieces it attracted much negative academic and political controversy at the time of its publication. Mills brazenly accused the elitists as "the warlords," "the higher immorality," "the power elite," "crackpot realism," and "organized irresponsibility,". The book was so well researched that it had 47 pages of Notes and was a full scale study of the structure and distribution of power in the United States. It was one of the very rare few of its kind and as a sociologist he had formulated some interesting methods and conclusions in this book. The study overtook a critical review of the American power structure without going too deep into the class-struggle perspective for which reason the Marxists ,Liberals and Conservatives criticised it alike. Mills identified three concepts in his book The Power Elite "political determinism,"(that is a potentially autonomous state in modern terms ), "military determinism" and "economic determinism". He utilised this trilogy to point out what he saw as the overemphasis on the importance of these pinnacles of power. This book was the key to the doors that had been locked before and sociological aspects whose realms had never been seen or explored before. The field of power structure research was open for academics to explore and analyse further. Mills had pioneered the trend of studying power structures and the book would go on to attain an iconic status in the study of sociology and politics. So how relevant is Mills' Power Elite today As far as the facts and the study itself are concerned it is surprisingly still relevant. Of more astonishment is the fact that the book depicts very accurate characterizations of how the country operates. However there has been criticism of the theoretical soundness of his views on other segments of the society. His analysis of the Max Weber and Karl Marx and Franz Neumann has been accused of being the most defective as it is argued that he underestimated the potential for change within a capitalist society in favour of the elitists thereby reversing the entire struggle made by the organised labour. Mills' thesis that America is run by corporations and financial institutions (who form a large chunk of the power elite) more than by its leadership is truer today than ever. His analysis is accurate in the sense that he has shown how the political directorate is intermingling comfortably with the corporations and the government positions. His study has been validated by the fact that it has now been discovered that think tanks and corporate financed foundations have a major say in government policy. Another point of criticism has been the fact that Mills has equated the Military with the corporate rich and members of the executive. This view was challenged when the book came out and can still be challenged because if you take a modern example of the US, the military leaders fear losing their positions if the dissent with their civilian bosses. This was happening during the 1960's and is still happening. Take for example the Iraq invasion when a top general was politely asked to retire when he asked for more army troops than the government had in mind. Today the involvement of the power elite in the political, economic, and military bureaucracies has become increasingly obvious in America's War on terrorism and the Middle East crisis. There is an allegation that the oil interests (economic) are involved with President Bush and Vice-President Cheney (political) mainly because they were formerly connected with that field. Moreover recently CNN announced that Colin Powell (military) has a monetary interest in the Syrian oil. Such interconnections illustrate Mill's theory today as they come full circle to show how war, business, and politicians have exploited the bureaucracy to promote violence and bloodshed. The power elite according to Mills is largely involved in undermining justice, power, and freedom. These potentially independent power bases have a huge potential for the exploitation of people. However I believe that religious organizational bases have tremendous power as well and Mills should have mentioned them as well as Power Elites. .This can be seen from the rise of the Christian Right, the Civil Rights Movement and the Iranian Revolution. Also the power generated from social movements cannot be underestimated and Mills seems to have overlooked this in his theory. However they lack the unity and the organisation of the Power Elitists. In the sociological context of the United States the pressure of the corporate America and the class conflict is more relevant. What is required therefore is a deeper understanding of how this trilogy unites, combines and interacts to bring about its own prosperity at the cost of the masses. Conclusion For Mills sociology was not independent of politics and democracy. For him these concepts were to be intertwined for a comprehensive understanding of not only the concept of the Power Elite but all the sociological themes. In The Sociological Imagination, Mills wrote: "It is the political task of the social scientist -- as of any liberal educator -- continually to translate personal troubles into public issues, and public issues into the terms of their human meaning for a variety of individuals. It is his task to display in his work, as an educator, in his life as well -- this kind of sociological imagination. And it is his purpose to cultivate such habits of mind among the men and women who are publicly exposed to him. To secure these ends is to secure reason and individuality, and to make these the predominant values of a democratic society." ___________________________________________________ Bibliography 1. History and Biography in a Global Age: The Legacy of C. Wright Mills by Lauren Langman (This paper was originally delivered at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting in Washington D.C) August 2000 2. Domhoff, G. William. 2006. "Mills's The Power Elite 50 Years Later." Contemporary Sociology Available at Http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/theory/mills_review_2006.html. 3. Domhoff, G. W. (2006). Who Rules America Power, Politics, and Social Change (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. 4. Gross, J. A. (1981). The Reshaping of the National Labor Relations Board. Albany: State University of New York Press. 5. Gross, J. A. (1995). Broken Promise: The Subversion of U.S. Labor Relations Policy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 6. Community Power and Political Theory. by Nelson W. Polsby , William V. D'Antonio Social Forces, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Mar., 1964) 7. The Ruling Elites: Elite Theory, Power, and American Democracy by Kenneth Prewitt, Alan Stone / Edward W. Lehman,Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 4, No. 3 (May, 1975). _________________________________________________________ Read More