The Power Elite Redefined

 

    This photograph was captured at President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Standing almost directly behind Trump, most notably, are Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai. These four men are some of the wealthiest individuals in not only America, but also in the world, with their domination of technological spheres resulting in net worths amassing billions of dollars. Elon Musk can be seen holding two thumbs up with a peculiar smile on his face, with Jeff Bezos displaying contentment and joy in his apparent smile. Sundar Pichai, similar to Jeff Bezos, is captured with a large smile on his face. While Mark Zuckerberg is not smiling in this photo, he appears to look somewhat fondly at the billionaires lined up next to him during the inauguration. Trump is at the front of the image, and although he is blurred, is another billionaire who has attempted to infiltrate a world outside that of his own, being one of politics and prestige. Many of the individuals in the background are also smiling, including the 29th Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. Robert F Kennedy is also pictured, a figure who more traditionally embodies what it means to be a power elite. JD Vance, Trump’s Vice President, and his wife, Usha Vance,  stand behind Trump. Ultimately, the body language and expressions on the faces of so many of these individuals pictured, however performative they may be, construct an image of support and joy at the introduction of a newfound sense of power and authority.

To Mills, the power elite are an inherently exclusive collective which are compiled of men with not only immense wealth and influence, but who also have an unattainable quality that comes from their having belonged to exclusive clubs, graduated from the eight premier schools in New England, and having shared interests. Belonging to the power elite was an entrenched identity that carried prestige, consequently resulting in a homogenous group of individuals who maintained their power and exclusivity through in-group associations. The power elites had a hold over the military, economy, and politics through their influence of institutions and the masses, evident in Mills noting that, “They are in command of the major hierarchies and organizations of modern society”(Mills 1956: 4). Central to the concept of power elites is the cyclical nature of their existence. Maintaining this group relies on members’ prestige that can not be bought or strong armed and is instead an understanding and respect given to those who operate in a world outside that of ordinary people and outside that of which ordinary people may attain (Mills 1956: 11). Can one become a power elite without having graduated from an Ivy League school, attended the right clubs, and most importantly, been accepted and respected amongst the elite as one of them? The power elites maintain their power through the inability of others to achieve that same status.

Trump and his gaggle of billionaires present an interesting group that neither strictly contradicts nor supports the notion of the power elites. While Trump and many of the other billionaires in the image went to Ivy League schools and have wealth, their new money status and oftentimes gaudy personas left them as outsiders to the elite group. Even Trump’s continued assertion of his intelligence and reminder he went to Penn is an example of his inability to acquire the title of a power elite, as those who went to Ivy League schools prefer to embody those ideals and status rather than shout their ability to have gotten in to those schools in an attempt at belonging and acceptance which is actually superficial. While they have dominated much of the economy, their identity as a power elite is questionable in that they lack prestige. There is no denying their influence on politics, and with Trump in office, their newfound political and military influence, but would Mills categorize them as power elites? The new Trump era may prove to displace the traditional idea of a power elite, as technology continues to dominate the world, those with new inventions who did not necessarily attend Ivy League schools or grow up within elite circles are now holding tremendous influence and acquiring centralized wealth. Mills talked about celebrity, and perhaps that is what Trump is destined to always be. The constant visibility of Trump and Elon is proof that their celebrity is crucial to their power. Mills imagines celebrity to mean, “more or less unattached, as critics of morality and technicians of power, as spokesmen of God and creators of mass sensibility, such celebrities and consultants are part of the immediate scene in which the drama of the elite is enacted (Mills 1956: 4). Trump was widely recognized as a celebrity prior to his 2016 campaign, though his status as a politician still blurs the line between character and leader. The complication arises with Mills stating, the drama itself is centered in the command posts of the major institutional hierarchies (Mills 1956: 4). This assertion would define the other technology billionaires as celebrities, but Trump does hold a central position of power in the government and is therefore within the center of “drama.”  The reality could be that technology and its immense influence on society forces the idea of a power elite to be redefined. At the inauguration, the 29th defense secretary, who graduated from Princeton and Robert F Kennedy, who is from a prominent family is situated behind those of the new age of wealth and power. The question still remains, can this new era of wealth hold the same prestige and ever be regarded in the same way that resulted in such an absolute control over power and society?

Sources:

Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. Oxford University Press, USA.

Loeb, Saul. 2025. "In Trump's America, The Oligarchy is Done Pretending to Care About You." Rolling Stone, January 21.