Diversity in the Power Elite: How it Happened, Why it Matters - Tapa dura

Zweigenhaft and Domhoff tell a profound sociological story about how the American elite has managed to accommodate successfully to growing societal diversity. Newcomers are allowed in, but they are changed in the process of entering: hence, the contemporary elite is no longer made up exclusively of white Christian men, but its members still share perspectives and values that favor narrow class interests regardless of where they came from. This powerful account demonstrates how a system of inequality can adapt to the pressure for social change. For today's diverse America, the old axiom, "plus ca change," will need to be translated into many more languages. -- Richard Alba, The University of Albany, SUNY In Diversity in the Power Elite Zweigenhaft and Domhoff provide a clear, concise, and often ignored dimension in power analysis. Applying a critical lens, the authors insightfully explore the ironies of the American elite: it has struggled to preserve its white male privilege, while begrudgingly allowing limited space for elites from various racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual orientations. This book provides the missing link to our discussions regarding diversity in America. -- Rodney Coates, Miami University, Ohio [This work] is based on meticulous scholarship, crammed with facts, and nonetheless is a good read. * Book Review Digest, August 01 2008 * . . . entertaining and easy to read. Recommended. * CHOICE *

This book looks systematically at the extent to which Jews, women, African Americans, Latinos, Asians and gay men and lesbians have entered the higher circles of power that constituted what sociologist C. Wright Mills called 'the power elite.' It examines why and how the power elite has diversified, the pathways taken by those who have entered the power elite, and the effect this diversification has had on the way power works in the United States.