What is Elite Deviance and Why is it Dangerous?
In 1956, the late, legendary U.S. sociologist C.
Wright Mills observed that a small group of wealthy and powerful
individuals controlled America’s dominant institutions (i.e., political,
economic and military). More specifically, the governing elite in the U.S. are
comprised of:
1) the highest political leaders, including the president and a
few key cabinet members and advisors,
2) major corporate owners and directors, and
3) the highest ranking military officers.
Mills called this group the power
elite. Interestingly, Mills was echoed in 1961 by President
Eisenhower in his farewell address when he warned of the self-serving acts of
the “military-industrial-[congressional] complex”- that is, his term for the power
elite.
A central contradiction of the power elite is that they frequently
violate the very laws they are sworn to uphold. Why would individuals who are
entrusted to occupy the top command posts of society break the laws they help
to create? Mills argued that bound by mutual interests, the power elite
periodically commit acts of elite wrongdoing (e.g., dumping toxic waste) and
enact policies (e.g., declaration of an unprovoked war) that are designed to
perpetuate their power and preserve their control over society. Mills stated
that elite acts that cause either physical or social harm represent the higher
immorality of the power elite. Mills argued that not only crime per se, but
also governmental deeds that cause social harm, regardless of their criminality
in a legal sense, be included in the conceptual definition. Another U.S.
sociologist named David Simon in 1995 expanded upon Mills’ concept of the
higher immorality to include immoral or unethical acts in his concept of “elite
deviance.” According to Simon, elite deviance is the deviant behavior of
societal elites (the people who head governmental or corporate institutions)
that makes them negative role models who encourage distrust, cynicism, and
alienation among non-elites.
Acts of elite deviance take place in part because of the way
corporate, political, and military intelligence institutions are structured:
they are bureaucracies. Significantly, bureaucratic organizations are
structured in ways that regularize crime and deviance. More specifically,
bureaucracies are goal-oriented, amoral entities which exist to maximize
profits and/or expand their own power. These goals encourage an ends over means mentality
among the top commanders of bureaucracies. For example, the top executives of a
public, for-profit corporation are well aware that the board of directors and
shareholders are much more interested in meeting quarterly profit goals than
they are in the actual decisions and actions required to meet those goals.
The higher immorality of the power elite is also possible because
the elites do not have to win the moral consent of those over whom they hold
power. Instead, a passive U.S. society simply trusts that the elites will act
on behalf of the so-called public interest. C. Wright Mills argued that this
condition is accompanied by a “fear of knowledge” and anti-intellectualism in
modern society. As noted by critical social theorists, an over reliance or
dependency on television news “sound bites” and media disseminated elite
rhetoric results in alienation among the masses, which can be exploited by the
elites. In fact, Mills foreshadowed the great Dr. Noam Chomsky when he stated
that the manipulation of public opinion and uncontested decisions of power have
replaced democratic authority in contemporary society. Mills concluded that the
higher immorality is a systematic feature of the American societal elite. Its
general acceptance by the public without critique is an essential feature of
modern U.S. society.
Do you agree with this conclusion? Doc Bonn wants to know.
Dr. Scott Bonn is Professor of Criminology at Drew
University and a media expert. He is the author of the critically acclaimed
book “Mass
Deception: Moral Panic and the U.S. War on Iraq.” Doc Bonn is currently researching and
writing a book on the public’s fascination with serial homicide and
psychopathic serial killers. Follow him @DocBonn on Twitter and email him
directly at docbonn1@gmail.com.
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Comments:
I
would add two additional components to the third level of this grid. Police and
private police such as security companies (think Blackwater/Xe) who contract
with governments both nationally and internationally. These type of “enforcers”
were seen at the Quebec City “Summit of Americas”, Toronto “G20″ and will be
seen in the Chicago G20. These enforcement groups under direct or contractual
control of Government will use “blind force” to drive home the point of their
control over the public as has also been seen in various sites in the US during
the OWS movement last fall.
One
additional component would be private legal firms to advise on prosecution or
defense for state, corporate or political dilemmas where things have gone
“wrong”. These private legal counsellors provide the State, corporations or
government assistance and advice in matters like International law violations,
skirting international / domestic law and international prisoner treaties.
Interestingly
Geoffrey Perret, in his biography of Eisenhower, claims that, in one draft of
the speech, the phrase was “military-industrial-congressional complex”,
indicating the essential role that the United States Congress plays in the
propagation of the military industry, but the word “congressional” was dropped
from the final version to appease the then-currently elected officials
………………..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Summit_of_the_Americas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_G-20_Toronto_summit_protests
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military–industrial_complex
