''Who Rules America?'' is a book by research psychologist and sociologist G. William Domhoff, Ph.D., published in 1967 as a best-seller (#12). ''WRA'' is frequently assigned as a sociology textbook, documenting the dangerous concentration of power and wealth in the American upper class. More recent editions have brought the discussion up to date, including the rise of

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, and the trend toward

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

in the Republican Party.

Summary

Domhoff argues in the book(s) that a power elite wields power in America transparently through its support of think tanks, foundations, commissions, and academic departments. Additionally, he argues that the elite controls institutions through overt authority, not through covert influence. In his introduction, Domhoff writes that the book was inspired by the work of four previous researchers: sociologists E. Digby Baltzell,

C. Wright Mills Charles Wright Mills (August 28, 1916 – March 20, 1962) was an American Sociology, sociologist, and a professor of sociology at Columbia University from 1946 until his death in 1962. Mills published widely in both popular and intellectual jour ...

, economist Paul Sweezy, and political scientist Robert A. Dahl. The

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

hosts Domhoff's ''Who Rules America?'' web site."Who Rules America?"
''whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu''.

Publication history

The original edition was followed by seven subsequent editions:"Studying the Power Elite: Fifty Years of Who Rules America?"
(2017).

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

. *''Who Rules America Now?'' (1983) *''Who Rules America? Power and Politics in the Year 2000'' (1998) *''Who Rules America? Power and Politics'' (2002) *''Who Rules America? Power, Politics, & Social Change'' (2006) *''Who Rules America? Challenges to Corporate and Class Dominance'' (2010) *''Who Rules America? The Triumph of the Corporate Rich'' (2014) *''Studying the Power Elite: Fifty Years of Who Rules America'' (2017) *''Who Rules America? The Corporate Rich, White Nationalist Republicans, and Inclusionary Democrats in the 2020s'' (2022)

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website"Who Rules America?"
(1987). An interview and discussion with G. William Domhoff about his book on ''

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''. ** Episode 334 (Part 1) ** Episode 335 (Part 2) Sociology books Books about the upper class Elite theory Social class in the United States