Who Rules America?
Who Rules America? is a book by research psychologist and sociologist, G. William Domhoff, Ph.D., first published in 1967 as a best-seller (#12), with six subsequent editions including Who Rules America Now? (1983, #43), Who Rules America? Challenges to Corporate and Class Dominance (2009), Who Rules America? Power and Politics (2013), Who Rules America? The Triumph of the Corporate Rich (2013), and Studying the Power Elite: Fifty Years of Who Rules America (2017).[1]
 Cover of first edition | |
| Author | G. William Domhoff, Ph.D. |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Publisher | Prentice-Hall |
Publication date | 1967 |
| Pages | 288 pp |
| OCLC | 256506 |
| Followed by | Who Rules America Now? (1983) Who Rules America? Power, Politics, and Social Change (2006) Who Rules America? Challenges to Corporate and Class Dominance (2010) Who Rules America? The Triumph of the Corporate Rich (2013) Studying the Power Elite: Fifty Years of Who Rules America (2017) |
WRA is frequently assigned as a sociology textbook and documents the dangerous concentration of power and wealth in the American upper class.[2] More recent editions have brought the discussion up to date and include the rise of Barack Obama, his campaign finance supporters, and the nature of his administration.
Summary
Domhoff argues in the book that a power elite wields power in America through its support of think-tanks, foundations, commissions, and academic departments.[3] Additionally, he argues that the elite control institutions through overt authority, not through covert influence.[4]
In his introduction, Domhoff writes that the book was inspired by the work of four men: sociologists E. Digby Baltzell, C. Wright Mills, economist Paul Sweezy, and political scientist Robert A. Dahl.[5]
The University of California, Santa Cruz hosts Domhoff's Who Rules America? web site.[6]
References
- "Studying the Power Elite: Fifty Years of Who Rules America?". Routledge. 2017.
- "WhoRulesAmerica.net".
- World of Sociology. Gale. November 2000. ISBN 978-0-7876-4965-4.
- Kenneth E. Miller (1967). "Who Rules America? by G. William Domhoff". Journal of Politics. 31: 565–567. doi:10.2307/2128630.
- G.William Domhoff (1967). Who Rules America?. p. 1. ISBN 0-13-958363-7.
- "Who Rules America?"
Further Reading and Viewing
More discussion about Who Rules America? can be found in a 1987 interview with Domhoff by Alternative Views.[1]