Despite all the above-mentioned fact, I was still able to find a counter-argument concerning the influence of elites, and this is in relationship with the political world. Thus, it can be easily noticed that many of the American's elected representatives come from the high strata of the society; this fact has been analyzed for many times and the most commonly-assumed conclusion was that people perceive them as being better-prepared for positions of the kind this being the reason for which they elect them. In addition, many of them seems to deal quite well with the situations they have to face and they also seem quite patient in listening to people and to their problems.
In his book, "Who's running America," Thomas Dye has as well treated the issue of the executive power, mainly the presidential status; he brings into discussion the statute of the Kennedy and Bush families and the differences between the diplomatic behavior of the members of the two families. Moreover, he puts them in sharp contrast with presidents such as Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, whose origins were more modest, as they did not inherit a privileged position in the eyes of the society and they had to fight for winning and maintaining...
And I think they have proven this fact for many times, just as the Kennedy's did as well.
Moreover, I think that the difference between the two categories in which the above-mentioned officials were integrated was made by Dye for a serious reason, mainly that of showing the Americans that a person did not necessarily have to come from a rich and prestigious family in order to be able to detain an important position in the state apparatus. Therefore, what the author practically did was to bring to smaller dimensions the distance between the elites and the masses, but this only after showing the contrasts between the social strata of the American world.
All in all, I consider that Thomas Dye was right when he affirmed that most of the top-officials have an elitist statute and, I would add that it is true indeed that they do not represent the society. Even though, there is still a chance for usual people to occupy positions as such.
Bibliography
Thomas R. Dye, "Who's running America. The Bush restoration," Oxford University Press, 7th edition, 1993
Book summaries," Politics in America," at http://www.thomasrdye.com/book_summaries.htm
Thomas R. Dye, "Who's running America. The Bush restoration," Oxford University Press, 7th edition, 1993
Book summaries, "Politics in America," at http://www.thomasrdye.com/book_summaries.htm
