Visualizing Theory

  By: Reanna Phillips There are a great many things to say about the phenomenon that is Presidents inviting celebrities to the White House, but among those is the rising question of why. In recent years we have seen people like Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, and even Olivia Rodrigo- a now 7-time grammy winner- visit the White House, and a great deal of why we know this is because they were sure to get the photos to prove it. Surely, there can be little that an eighteen-year-old actress and singer can offer in the most powerful office in our country. Yet, her visit did prove eventful, as she even gave a speech to encourage what she called “youth vaccines”. While she by no means has the scientific credibility as someone like Dr. Fauci might, her right to do so comes from her celebrity. In my understanding of C. Wright Mills, this is what he would refer to as a coordination of power among the elites in a time of crisis- as an international pandemic certainly qualifies. Pictures like this, o...

  Julián A. Clivillés Morales Mills writes: “If the bankruptcy rate among the top five hundred corporations were as high as the general divorce rate among the thirty-seven million married couples, there would be economic catastrophe on an international scale” (6-7).  I was reminded of the 2008 Financial Crisis when reading this quote. Because, as Mills argues, “as each of these domains becomes enlarged and centralized, the consequences of its activities become greater” (7).  In the case of 2008, the banks and financial institutions had to survive because the financial well being of American society depended on it. As you can see with the image above, the Treasury Department spent approximately $439.6 billion buying bank stock in order to revitalize the economy. Here we see two of the three interlocking dominant hierarchies at work: the political and economic forces. This money did not directly go to the unemployed, but rather the elites and their associates. We saw someth...

  by Stephanie Chang Marianne Weber argues that married women must look toward voluntary subordination without betraying their own autonomy in Authority and Autonomy in Marriage . Weber writes that “The richer and more independent the content of [a woman’s] personality comes to be, the more difficult her fundamental subordination must of course become” (2003:92). Here, Weber draws a connection between a woman’s realized autonomy—her personality and averse position to committing blasphemy—as inherently linked to resistance within a marriage requiring some level of autonomy be relinquished for voluntary subordination. This image shows Akihiko Kondo, a middle-aged school administrator, beside his legally married wife: a hologram of the Japanese virtual reality character, Hatsune Miku. He claims that he demonstrates deep commitment and loyalty to his wife, who he interacts with through a $2800 device that allows for real-time movements. Kondo rejects all attraction to real women, with ...

  Pictured above is Rupert Murdoch, the founder of Fox News. In the second photo he is seen with President Donald Trump.  Mills described the Power Elite as people at the top of the economic, political and military sphere. He claims that the people in these domains have a "similar social type and leading to the fact of their easy intermingling" (Mills 19). Based on Mills claims saying “members of a top social stratum, as a set of groups whose members know one another socially and at business, and so, in making decisions, take one another into account” (Mills, 11),  there's no doubt that a media tycoon such as Rupert Murdoch himself could be seen talking with President Trump. Mills highlights how people from different sectors socialise with one another. Further, he talks about how people in the Power Elite have quite a lot of power in society. There seems to be an anomaly of celebrities entering into the status and power elite. Mills predicted how celebrities maintain the ...

  Among the fringiest, most fanatical of United States conspiracy theorists, there exists a pocket of folks devoted to the idea that the most influential members of our society: politicians, celebrities, and corporate executives, are in fact, sinister reptilian humanoids. The theory was first posited by defamed BBC sports writer David Icke in his supposedly tell-all book The Biggest Secret: The Book That Will Change the World , in which he claimed the ruling elite was a shapeshifting reptilian brood all stemming from the same thousand-year bloodline. The machinations of this reptilian cabal, while only vaguely specified and highly debated among theorists, are assuredly sinister and diabolical in nature. The theory has gained cultural traction since, both earnest and ironic.  In The Power Elite , Mills details the consequences of conceiving the ruling elite as omnipotent. “According to such notions of the omnipotent elite as historical cause, the elite is never an entirely vi...

Mills focuses on the sense of an elite that is held by the American public and how that elite relates to historical and political phenomena. Mills looks at the strength of that elite’s power, the visibility of the elite, and how these together create a theory of change and the elite’s place as a historical actor.  Currently issues of inflation are a focus of political discourse and American consumers have been affected by the rising price of gas. A sticker placed next to the price of gas at a pump in Sissonville, West Virginia reads, “That’s all me. I did that.” with a picture of President Biden pointing at the price of gas. There is a clear economic and political problem resonant with individuals who want to understand why the phenomena is happening. This piece of political propaganda attributes President Biden with responsibility for the rising price of gas. This affirms an understanding of the elite as being omnipotent and having an almost divine power over reality. This politi...

 By Caleb Newman     The President of the United States is a part of what sociologist C. Wright Mills calls the power elite who are in charge of major institutions (Mills 1956:4). Furthermore, there is a ranking of the power elite (Mills 1956:18). In the video above, Al Haig, the Secretary of State, wrongly misinterpreted the presidential line of succession after then-President Ronald Regan was shot. There is a very clear list of who is supposed to succeed the President.      M ills acknowledges that there is no definitive cutoff to who is elite and who is not. However, one would have to have a very high bar to not consider the Secretary of State (Mills 1956:18), a head of a bureaucratic agency, a part of the power elite. Mills defines the power elite as people who decide national events (Mills 1956:18), and the Secretary of State most certainly does that.      Haig's infamous blunder also confirms Mills' three major keys to unders...

  This picture is from the 2015 White House correspondents dinner, which shows Obama and Keegan-Michael Key performing stand up. I have chosen this picture because it does a good job of showing how the power elite socialize. C. Wright Mills writes in The Power Elite that these people are all of a “similar social type and leading to the fact of their easy intermingling” (Mills, 19). In 2015 you could find anyone from Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, to Russell WiIlson, then quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks (Helena). While the dinner is mostly journalists who regularly work alongside the White House staff, there are still powerful people from other spheres that fit right into the event. What is important is that they are all “members of a top social stratum, as a set of groups whose members know one another socially and at business, and so, in making decisions, take one another into account” (Mills, 11). While Russell Willson will likely not be in consideration the next time senator...

 Yadhira Ramirez  Professor Villegas Happily Ever After? In the picture above demonstrates a bride and groom’s commitment to one another in front of the officiant/ priest. This picture is interesting because it portrays the typical traditional wedding where the bride wears white as a symbol of purity and “giving herself” to her husband. Marianne Weber brings awareness to the idea that marriage is patriarchal, especially when it comes to the superiority that men have over women. For example she states “ For the man is not from the woman, but the woman from the man. And the man is not created for the good of the woman, but rather the woman is created for the good of the man” (87). Based on Weber's idea of marriage, the woman is supposed to change herself for the better and satisfy the man’s needs. The woman is going to become the typical housewife and will have to make sure that her husband is content. The initiation of a matrimony begins as the woman has to prove herself not on...

By Cynthia Oyarce  According to C. Wright Mills, the  power elite  refer to individuals whose positions allow them to transcend the influence of ordinary people. In other words, their decisions (and lack of decisions) have major consequences on society at large, especially when compared to the decision-making of the average person. There are three main areas in which the American power elite reside: the economic domain, the military domain, and the political domain. As "the typical institutional unit has become enlarged, has become administrative, and . . . has become centralized" within the big three, increased cooperation has also emerged between the three sectors (Mills 2002:7). The picture above shows Rex W. Tillerson, former chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, giving welcoming remarks during his first day as the U.S. Secretary of State. The economic influence of big oil is no secret, as oil executives have had a role to play in political decisions for decades. However,...

  This picture is a father giving away the bride to the groom. Marianne Weber, like her husband Max, suggests that Christianity has structured society. She suggests that marriage institutionally is patriarchal, partly due to its roots in Christianity, and that this patriarchal structure persists even if Christianity does not. She writes that the belief that women are supposed to serve men “has been reified into dogma up until the present in all of those circles that believe in ‘definitive revelations’, but has asserted its power beyond these circles as well” (citation). One example of Christian patriarchal beliefs asserting itself into marriage is the tradition of a father giving away the bride. Genesis 3:16 says “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you”. There are many Bible verses that echo the same sentiment that Marianne Weber is so cautious of, that husbands ultimately rule over their wives and have the last say in decision making. The tradition of a ...

Shelby Goodwin     In “Authority and Autonomy in Marriage,” Marianne Weber argues that marriage should revolve around the autonomy of both spouses. Thus, men should not have a disproportionate amount of authority over their wives. Except, Weber claims, if a woman can voluntarily subordinate her will to her husband’s while maintaining her autonomy: “...the autonomous woman can of course also make her husband’s will her own, and place her wishes and interests behind his … But if, instead of such free giving of one’s self, the woman obliges his needs and everyday goals against her inner voice… she commits blasphemy against her own human dignity…” (Weber 2003: 93). What does obliging “his needs and everyday goals against her inner voice” look like – especially knowing that women are socialized to stifle their “inner voice” in the favor of men’s desires? The line between voluntary and coerced subordination is difficult to define, as Weber frames this issue as a matter of ind...

by Luke Kim  In his book The Power Elite , American sociologist C. Wright Mills argues that “within American society, major national power now resides in the economic, the political, and the military domains” (2002:6) where the domains of each have now grown so large that all three are fundamentally interlocked. According to Mills, the interlocking nature “[...] is clearly revealed at each of the points of crisis of modern capitalist society - slump, war, and boom,” (8). In this regard, I argue that the War on Terror has presented a time of crisis that elucidates the unavoidable enmeshing between the three major domains of power.  In the image, which depicts Col. Kenneth Cole giving a lecture in the Program on Terrorism and Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, a slide is projected that depicts several non-governmental partners that can be drawn upon in “counterterrorism” efforts. Among these partners, the first listed is private bu...

  By Kate Beck Mills describes the Power Elite as the people at the top of economic, political, and military domains who have the capacity to make large-scale, national decisions. “They are in command of the major hierarchies and organizations of modern society” (Mills [1956] 2000: 4). Mills discusses the way that people perceive the Power Elite, such as “omnipotent,” possessing a “great hidden design” or even a “secular substitute for the will of God” (Mills [1956] 2000: 16). Although Mills somewhat rejects the notion that the Power Elite is some secret society responsible for every decision, he expresses some worry about the gravity of their decision-making powers.  Today, conspiracy theorists believe there is an “all-powerful sect” with plans to “rule the world” (Spyscape) known as the Illuminati. Celebrities like Beyonce and Jay-Z, politicians like Joe Biden and the Clintons, and leaders of the economic order like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are all presumed to be a part of t...

             By Smrami Patel           In Authority and Autonomy , sociologist and feminist Marianne Weber proposed several “ideal types,” enabling an understanding of authority within a heterosexual marriage. Among these, primitive patriarchalism describes “the right of the stronger” (2003: 86) suggesting a sphere of influence men have over women through traditional authority within their marriage.             This sphere of influence over women evolved the structure of marriage with the Greeks and the Romans establishing another ideal type – legitimate marriage. “Catholicism began the enforcement of monogamy as a moral ideal”, highlighted in this image. During their wedding ceremony, the young couple in a Catholic church depicts how the creation of legal monogamous marriage placed restrictions on men by only having one wife and provided “insurance of certain women and th...

     Goldsworthy, Andy, 1956-. (Nov. 21-22, 1987). Japanese maple/leaves stiched togehter to make a foating chain/the next day it became a hole supported underneath by a woven briar ring, Ouchiyama-Mura, Japan. Retrieved from https://library.artstor.org/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822003780416     We’ve come to realize that, in part, the social theory of Mary Douglass sees "dirt as powerful, as dangerous, and transformative." "If we can abstract pathogenicity and hygiene as from our notion of dirt, we are left with the old definition of dirt as matter out of place," (Douglass 2002: 44) which I see in the work of Andy Goldsworthy, who organizes organic matter to create the subjects of his photography. Specifically in his work with fallen leaves, one could understand him redefining what we might view as "waste" or "dirt". Although admired while still attached to the tree, autumn leaves are functionally treated as a burden to the typical person. Whole s...

  By Reanna Phillips America has no official language; This is an important, yet often ignored fact. America has no official language yet only four states have mandated a secondary language in schools (MPI), for all of them, it is two years or less. Most students in America don’t know a second language, and the greatly ignored addendum to that fact is, unless English was not their first language. ESL classrooms have been around for many years, but gained major traction in the 1960s, with the influx of Cuban immigrants to Florida (Study.com). The United States saw a surge of immigration of Latin America and Korea following the first World War and following that, ESL classrooms were thus inhabited largely by first-generation and second-generation students. The institutionalization of these classrooms meant that students emerged from schooling often being stripped of their mother tongue in order to fit in with the rest of their peers. These classrooms isolate students from their Engli...

       Jeffrey Alexander explores the three modes of socially incorporating minorities in The Civil Sphere : assimilation, hyphenation, and multiculturalism; the latter manifesting in American civil spaces as a celebration of diversity, or at least its idealized form. Alexander writes that “In multicultural incorporation, particular differences do not have to be eliminated or denied, so the sharp split between private and public realms recede” (2006:452). Rather than assimilating one’s cultural identity or splicing values through hyphenation, multiculturalism supposedly encourages marginalized peoples to embody their hybridity with a sense of pride. This contrasts the notion of banishing ‘primitive’ and polluted traits that Mary Douglas observed, emblematic of the obsolete prerequisites to participate in the American public sphere.      In this image, Canada’s premier Inuit governor-general and native speaker of Inuktitut, Mary Simon, studies the decor...

   Ian Krein   Last month Lia Thomas became the first trans person to win a NCAA national championship by winning the 500 freestyle. Shortly after, a larger portion of the population was outraged that she was allowed to compete as a woman. The picture above shows Lia on top of the podium after the event, the second and third place finishers decided to pose with the 4th place finisher (who they thought should have gotten 3rd).       In the media storm that ensued, the NCAA was quickly characterized as an uncivil institution. One swimmer, Reka Gyorgy, wrote an open letter calling the NCAA “unfair” and “disrespectful” (Gyorgy). Language like this falls on the uncivil side of the binary that Alexander lays out in chapter 4, writing that the “binary codes supply the structured categories of pure and impure into which every member, or potential member, of civil society is made to fit.” Clearly people see Thomas’s success as a violation of some kind, and the...