Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1- The Irony of Democracy
This chapter describes the meaning of elitism and the meaning of democracy and shows that they cannot truly coexist in the purest form of each system. Dye shows that the irony of democracy is that the elite must make the decisions that the rest of the people have to follow. He states that, “The masses do not lead, they follow.” (Dye, 1). Also discussed in this chapter are certain threats that can hurt democracy. Two of these threats are terrorism and civil unrest based on scandals or court rulings. These two things can whip the masses into mobs and cloud judgment. The chapter concludes by joining the ideas of elitism and democracy stating that every government must be ruled by the elite, even democracies.
Chapter 2- Founding Fathers: The Nation’s First Elite
This chapter opens by explaining that the fifty five men who founded the US constitution were very elite. They were born from good families, were white, Christian, educated and rich. Dye also notes that these qualities of being wealthy and educated were not the norm for the average person in America at the time. This being said, the vast majority of people in did not have any say in the creation and drafting of the constitution. Dye states that had the people of the USA known what the constitution said and could they have voted on it, they probably would’ve rejected it. This chapter also describes how the founders strongly disagreed with pure democracy. They thought that if everyone had power, the lower class would try to level with the upper class. They felt that this was a violation of a person’s right to land.
Chapter 3- The Evolution of American Elites
Chapter three deals with the evolution of the elites in the USA. Dye states that there were no great and sudden changes in the ideas of the American elites even when power shifted from one party to the other because they all had the same common interests. He also explains how there were more and more types of elite as the time went on. This is because there were more manners in which people could become rich as more land was taken for the USA. These people were unusually Jacksonians. They thought that people with new money should have as much influence as those with old money. Even with the arrival of new influences, the elite stayed rigid in their belief that not everyone should have an equal say in the government activities. Dye goes on to site examples in the Civil War and World War II. After and during World War II, it was seen in the enemy that the elite should be responsible for the well being of the general population.
Chapter 4- Elites in America
Chapter four deals with the modern elites in America. Dye makes several points regarding how the elites of our nation don’t truly represent the democracy that we are supposed to have in place. The corporate upper-class is put under a microscope and analyzed in this chapter. Data suggests that a small percent of industrial companies control the majority of the industrial assets in the USA. This is the same case with banks controlling banking assets. This is ironic because, like the government, a small percent of top companies practically run the rest of the smaller companies.
Also talked about in chapter four is the role of CEOs and other high ranking executives in the corporate world today. A stunning statistic shows the overall greed that runs deep in corporate boardrooms. The average CEO makes 209 times more pay than a low level employee. Once again, an upper-class, usually white, well educated man is making decisions for the masses without fully consulting them. This is converse to the ideal American democracy.
Chapter 5- Masses in America
Chapter five explains many things about how the masses function in our system of government. Dye says that the overall earnings of the average American worker has steeply lessened in the last few decades. This is largely because international trade has exploded in the past 25-30 years. Instead of having American workers making goods with a minimum wage and limited work hours, it is cheaper to import goods from overseas. Other countries have cheap labor so it is easier to turn a profit by selling the foreign products. With this new method of procuring products to sell comes a broader gap between the elite and working classes. The CEOs are making more money from cheap labor and the American workers are getting laid off. This also leads to skepticism from the masses about how fair the government actually is. Fortunately for the government, the masses are dependent on the upper-class to provide a stable economy, which they have been successful in doing. This helps prevent activism by the masses that could lead to uninformed riots and extremism.
Chapter 6- Elite- Mass Communication
Chapter 6 describes the manner and process in which the elite and the masses communicate with each other. There is such a large gap between the rich and working class people that communication sometimes becomes a problem. Obviously, the easiest way to communicate ideas to the masses is to put them on TV. The mass media has almost endless power. Media outlets can control what the masses talk about, what they care about, and even what the think about. The media can pick and choose what stories it wants to air. For example, Fox News is notoriously republican. They are less likely to air stories that make Bush look bad than some other media outlets.
Chapter 7- American Political Parties: A System in Decay
Chapter 7 discusses the system of political parties that is in place in the USA today. Dye puts a negative connotation on the idea that parties rule everything because he feels that parties make its impossible for the USA to truly be a democracy. He also points out that both major parties share the same views on most important issues. They only differ on small things that don’t greatly affect the lifestyle of the majority of Americans. He also points out that even though most Americans belong to a political party, very few people actually have an effect one what decisions are made within the party. Dye shows that small interest groups have more power than the rest of the population because they collect money which can buy time to speak with party leaders.
Chapter 9- Organized Interests: Defenders of the Status Quo
Chapter 9 deals with interest groups and if they protect of destroy the idea of democracy. With interest groups comes the political theory of pluralism, which says that the government should be run by small interest groups. Dye says that most effective interest groups draw members from the upper and middle classes instead of the lower class. This is bad because the lower class population is the people that actually need help and need their voices heard. He also points out that the most successful groups are those that have small, but elite bases. Groups that are based on the masses have little success. To sum everything up, Dye thinks that a pure democracy cannot coexist with pluralism.
Chapter 13- Courts: Elites in Black Robes
Chapter 13 talks about the signs of elitism in the judicial system. To start off, the Supreme Court is a nine judge panel that is the highest court. None of these judges are elected even though the are the most powerful judges in the country. Dye points out that the only way that you can get appointed to the Supreme Court is by knowing the President, and the only way that you can know the President is by being an elite. The problem that can be seen here is that the Supreme Court can overrule decisions that are made by elected officials. Another problem with the Supreme Court is that most of the judges were upper-class before they even became elected. This can be seen in the colleges that they attended, mostly Ivy League.
This chapter describes the meaning of elitism and the meaning of democracy and shows that they cannot truly coexist in the purest form of each system. Dye shows that the irony of democracy is that the elite must make the decisions that the rest of the people have to follow. He states that, “The masses do not lead, they follow.” (Dye, 1). Also discussed in this chapter are certain threats that can hurt democracy. Two of these threats are terrorism and civil unrest based on scandals or court rulings. These two things can whip the masses into mobs and cloud judgment. The chapter concludes by joining the ideas of elitism and democracy stating that every government must be ruled by the elite, even democracies.
Chapter 2- Founding Fathers: The Nation’s First Elite
This chapter opens by explaining that the fifty five men who founded the US constitution were very elite. They were born from good families, were white, Christian, educated and rich. Dye also notes that these qualities of being wealthy and educated were not the norm for the average person in America at the time. This being said, the vast majority of people in did not have any say in the creation and drafting of the constitution. Dye states that had the people of the USA known what the constitution said and could they have voted on it, they probably would’ve rejected it. This chapter also describes how the founders strongly disagreed with pure democracy. They thought that if everyone had power, the lower class would try to level with the upper class. They felt that this was a violation of a person’s right to land.
Chapter 3- The Evolution of American Elites
Chapter three deals with the evolution of the elites in the USA. Dye states that there were no great and sudden changes in the ideas of the American elites even when power shifted from one party to the other because they all had the same common interests. He also explains how there were more and more types of elite as the time went on. This is because there were more manners in which people could become rich as more land was taken for the USA. These people were unusually Jacksonians. They thought that people with new money should have as much influence as those with old money. Even with the arrival of new influences, the elite stayed rigid in their belief that not everyone should have an equal say in the government activities. Dye goes on to site examples in the Civil War and World War II. After and during World War II, it was seen in the enemy that the elite should be responsible for the well being of the general population.
Chapter 4- Elites in America
Chapter four deals with the modern elites in America. Dye makes several points regarding how the elites of our nation don’t truly represent the democracy that we are supposed to have in place. The corporate upper-class is put under a microscope and analyzed in this chapter. Data suggests that a small percent of industrial companies control the majority of the industrial assets in the USA. This is the same case with banks controlling banking assets. This is ironic because, like the government, a small percent of top companies practically run the rest of the smaller companies.
Also talked about in chapter four is the role of CEOs and other high ranking executives in the corporate world today. A stunning statistic shows the overall greed that runs deep in corporate boardrooms. The average CEO makes 209 times more pay than a low level employee. Once again, an upper-class, usually white, well educated man is making decisions for the masses without fully consulting them. This is converse to the ideal American democracy.
Chapter 5- Masses in America
Chapter five explains many things about how the masses function in our system of government. Dye says that the overall earnings of the average American worker has steeply lessened in the last few decades. This is largely because international trade has exploded in the past 25-30 years. Instead of having American workers making goods with a minimum wage and limited work hours, it is cheaper to import goods from overseas. Other countries have cheap labor so it is easier to turn a profit by selling the foreign products. With this new method of procuring products to sell comes a broader gap between the elite and working classes. The CEOs are making more money from cheap labor and the American workers are getting laid off. This also leads to skepticism from the masses about how fair the government actually is. Fortunately for the government, the masses are dependent on the upper-class to provide a stable economy, which they have been successful in doing. This helps prevent activism by the masses that could lead to uninformed riots and extremism.
Chapter 6- Elite- Mass Communication
Chapter 6 describes the manner and process in which the elite and the masses communicate with each other. There is such a large gap between the rich and working class people that communication sometimes becomes a problem. Obviously, the easiest way to communicate ideas to the masses is to put them on TV. The mass media has almost endless power. Media outlets can control what the masses talk about, what they care about, and even what the think about. The media can pick and choose what stories it wants to air. For example, Fox News is notoriously republican. They are less likely to air stories that make Bush look bad than some other media outlets.
Chapter 7- American Political Parties: A System in Decay
Chapter 7 discusses the system of political parties that is in place in the USA today. Dye puts a negative connotation on the idea that parties rule everything because he feels that parties make its impossible for the USA to truly be a democracy. He also points out that both major parties share the same views on most important issues. They only differ on small things that don’t greatly affect the lifestyle of the majority of Americans. He also points out that even though most Americans belong to a political party, very few people actually have an effect one what decisions are made within the party. Dye shows that small interest groups have more power than the rest of the population because they collect money which can buy time to speak with party leaders.
Chapter 9- Organized Interests: Defenders of the Status Quo
Chapter 9 deals with interest groups and if they protect of destroy the idea of democracy. With interest groups comes the political theory of pluralism, which says that the government should be run by small interest groups. Dye says that most effective interest groups draw members from the upper and middle classes instead of the lower class. This is bad because the lower class population is the people that actually need help and need their voices heard. He also points out that the most successful groups are those that have small, but elite bases. Groups that are based on the masses have little success. To sum everything up, Dye thinks that a pure democracy cannot coexist with pluralism.
Chapter 13- Courts: Elites in Black Robes
Chapter 13 talks about the signs of elitism in the judicial system. To start off, the Supreme Court is a nine judge panel that is the highest court. None of these judges are elected even though the are the most powerful judges in the country. Dye points out that the only way that you can get appointed to the Supreme Court is by knowing the President, and the only way that you can know the President is by being an elite. The problem that can be seen here is that the Supreme Court can overrule decisions that are made by elected officials. Another problem with the Supreme Court is that most of the judges were upper-class before they even became elected. This can be seen in the colleges that they attended, mostly Ivy League.
posted by Drue at 1:51 PM
2 Comments:
whats chap 10?
its the chapter 13 they have listed
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