G. William Domhoff Who Rules America?

Who Rules America? Is just the question many individuals ask and cannot fully answered the question. In the article written by G. William Domhoff called “Who Rules America?” presents the idea of the power of the elite, but in order to understand that idea one has to acknowledge who has the actual power. According to Domhoff, there are three groups that control the power:the social upper class, the corporate community, and the policy planning. Each group has its own benefits of the power gaining.

The social upper class are individuals that are extremely wealthy, they set the domination of others. Meaning they have the power to set the terms in which others operate and follow for example their grand lifestyle. The corporate community consists of owners and and business managers of large income-producing properties.

For example, private corporations, banks, different kinds of institutions, and agricultural businesses. The policy planning group is made up of upper class lawyers, medical doctors, scientists or corporate communities who have an impact on the governmental policy.

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These individuals have the say and power to participate in the choices made for the country. In the book “Nickel-And-Dimed:On (not) Getting By in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich, she wanted to write a book on poverty and in order to fully reveal the true hardships of low-paid workers have faced, she took upon herself and personal tried to live a poor life and try to survive. She worked three minimum- wage jobs in Key West, Maine and, Minnesota.

Ehrenreich wrote about the lives of people she encountered as her character. She realizes that these people are treated horrible and they cannot afford to stand up for themselves, not wanting to risk their jobs.

As an immigrant to the U.S. my parents decided to move here with the assumptions of a better and easier life. As they heard from the media and other individuals of the American Dream. They have been told that in America there are better opportunities and everyone has the chance of having a luxurious life. This is told through the idea of Meritocracy. Meritocracy is a social system where people get opportunities and succeed based on their talents and effort. It is the ideology that social inequality is because of the inequality of talent rather than prejudice. As immigrants, not knowing the language is an extreme barrier in finding higher paid jobs. So normally, my parents work hard in minimum wage jobs to provide for the family. In my opinion, Meritocracy is not real, working hard trying to put the effort into exposing your talents is not enough and it only works for certain individuals.

For example, my mother went to college for about 8 years, she has received her masters degree in special ed education and psychology but coming to America she has many barriers in her life that do not allow her to fully expose her talent. The only way she can expand her talent she has to go to school to learn english.But like many of the workers Ehrenreich has encountered she cannot afford to do both. As she wrote, “something is wrong, very wrong, when a single person in good health, a person who in addition possesses a working car, can barely support herself by the sweat of her brow. You don’t need a degree in economics to see that wages are too low and rents too high”(Ehrenreich).

Minimum wage jobs require a great amount of hard work and many of the employees of treated without respect and this is because many of the managers, company owners are taking advantage of their power. (Ehrenreich). If you were born in a upper class society you already have multiple connections prior to even being born and developing a talent. Overall, the American Dream can not be pursued by everyone and it's never going to be fair. There are always going to those who have advantages and other who have barriers no matter the hard work that's put in.

References

• Global Inequality - An overview of global inequality, including graphs and statistics, from Inequality.org.
• Meritocracy - The Merriam-Webster definition of meritocracy, a concept often associated with the American Dream.
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America - A book by Barbara Ehrenreich that delves into the struggles of low-wage workers in the United States.