Charles Wright Mills was a prominent American sociologist born in 1916 in Waco, Texas. He is known for his concept of the sociological imagination and critique of what he termed the "power elite" in the US. Mills argued that the sociological imagination allows one to understand how individual experiences are influenced by broader social and historical forces. He also posited that major decisions in America were increasingly being made by an interlocking network of leaders from the highest levels of business, government, and the military, rather than by a pluralistic system of competing interest groups.

1. SOC4044 Sociological
Theory:
Charles Wright Mills
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 1

2. Charles Wright Mills
1916-1962
Born in Waco, Texas
Middle-Class
Roman Catholic
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 2

3. Charles Wright Mills
Character and Social Structure
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 3

4. Charles Wright Mills
Sociological Imagination
Sociological Imagination
The sociological imagination enables us to grasp
history and biography and the relations between
the two within society.
No social study that does not come back to the
problems of biography, of history and of
intersections within a society has completed its
intellectual journey.
Mills (1959:6)
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 4

5. Charles Wright Mills
Sociological Imagination
Personal Troubles versus Public
Issues
Troubles occur within the character of the
individual and within the range of his immediate
relations with others; they have to do with his
self and with those limited areas of social life of
which he is directly and personally aware. . . A
trouble is a private matter: values cherished by
an individual are felt by him to be threatened.
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 5

6. Charles Wright Mills
Sociological Imagination
Issues have to do with matters that transcend
these local environments of the individual and
the range of his inner life. . . An issue is a public
matter: some value cherished by publics is felt
to be threatened. Often there is a debate about
what that value really is and about what it is that
really threatens it.
Mills (1959:8)
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 6

7. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
In 1956, Mills published a book entitled The Power Elite in
which he traced the social class backgrounds of leaders
in business, government, and other major spheres of
influence and authority. It is not necessary to prove a
conspiracy among these people or even to show that
they are in contact with one another, in order to suggest
that the decisions made in one power sector reinforce
those made in others. As products of similar class
locations and socialization experiences, these leaders
will think alike, share a vision of what is fair and good,
and act in ways that maintain the existing stratification
system.
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 7

8. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
The empirical tests of Mill’s thesis have
centered on identifying a “national upper
class” whose members own most of the
nation’s wealth, manage its corporations
and banks, run the universities and
foundations, control the mass media, and
staff the highest levels of government and
the courts (Schwartz 1987; Domhoff,
1990).
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 8

9. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
It is worth noting in this regard that contrary
to the “log cabin” myth, all but five of our
presidents were from the upper or upper-
middle classes, including Abraham
Lincoln (Pressen 1984; Baltzell and
Schneiderman 1988).
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 9

10. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
The emphasis of recent research has been
less on the content of socialization than
on the structural links among the
members of this elite: from schools and
clubs to marriages and jobs. These are
interlocks that extend beyond the world of
business to involve politics, education,
and control over information.
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 10

11. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
The Power-Elite
Government
Business
Military
Judiciary
Foundations
Media
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 11

12. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
This phenomenon is most obvious in
presidential appointments (Riddlesberger
and King 1989) and in the actual
movement of people from on sphere to
another, as when corporate officers
become cabinet members, or when heads
of regulatory agencies leave government
for jobs in the industries they previously
regulated.
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 12

13. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
Another source of support for the power-elite vision of the
world lies in the vast resources of the major American
foundations. Foundations are tax-exempt organizations
built on endowments from very wealthy families. Funds
from the interest on the endowments are used to finance
various educational and charitable causes chosen by
the trustees and managers of the foundations. As
members of the elite strata, shaped by similar schooling
and social networks, the men, primarily
WASP, who run major foundations are not likely to lend
their support to people or organizations whose goal is to
overthrow the existing system or to challenge American
interest abroad.
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 13

14. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
Levels
Unified power-elite
Diversified and balanced plurality of interest
groups
Mass of unorganized people who have no
power over the elite
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 14

15. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
Changes
Increasing concentration of power
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 15

16. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
Operation
One group determines all major policies
Manipulation of people at the bottom by group
at the top
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 16

17. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
Bases
Coincidence of interests among major
institutions (economic, military, governmental)
Social similarities and psychological affinities
among those who direct major institutions
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 17

18. Charles Wright Mills
The Power-Elite
Consequences
Enhancement of interests of corporations,
armed forces, and executive branch of
government
Decline of politics as public debate
Decline of responsible and accountable
power--loss of democracy
© 1998-2006 by Ronald Keith
Sunday, October 21, 2012 Bolender 18