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Please read the chapters listed below in your textbook.

· Chapter 5: The Role of Public Opinion

· Chapter 6: Parties and Elections

Question 1: In Chapter 5, Domhoff discusses the political struggle between conservatives (corporate-conservative) and liberals (liberal-labor) as expressing itself in the arena of public opinion as a conflict over the true meaning of Americanism, or what it means to be a true American. Choosing one of the areas in which, according to Domhoff, the corporate elite attempt to shape public opinion (science, foreign policy, economic policy, or social issues), discuss the ways in which the definition of Americanism has been shaped by the opinion-shaping network for that area. Be sure to specify how this definition is shaped in service to corporate interests. For example – How has the opinion-shaping network swayed the discussion over global warming to serve corporate interests, and how is that opinion aligned with a so-called “true American” way of thinking? Global warming is just an example. You can discuss any policy within the areas of science, foreign policy, economic policy, or social issues that you like.

You may use the example of Edward Snowden and the NSA, which is the topic of some of your web readings for your web assignment for this week, to describe how opinion on foreign and domestic policy is shaped.

Question 2: Chapter 6 offers us insight into the creation and the working of the American political system. Please select one issue from of this chapter and explain why you think it is relevant to our discussion on power and social change. Let’s engage in a fruitful discussion here. If you select an issue that someone else has already written about you must take the analysis further to receive credit for the post.

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Textbook

Domhoff, W.G. (2014). Who Rules America? The Triumph of the Corporate Rich (7th ed). NY: McGraw Hill.

ISBN-13: 978-0078026713

https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/methods/studying_power.html

Use only the course materials no outside sources will be accepted for the essay

Power and Social Control

Domhoff: Chapters 5 and 6

Chapter 5: The Role of Public Opinion
Domhoff shows that the capitalist class
works hard at shaping public opinion:
role of the policy planning network
public relations/public affairs efforts Corporations
support for opinion-shaping organizations
like the Advertising Council and the Policy Association
owns almost all the mass media

Surveys used extensively to capture public opinion
People develop opinions based on the context of their lives
Most people are not interested in politics and therefore is not focused enough to have a direct effect
2

General Network used in Shaping Public Opinion (p. 111)

Remember policy-planning networks? Think tanks, policy-discussion groups, and foundations.
They also have a central role in opinion-shaping networks, carried out by large public relations firms and public affairs departments
-they have large staffs
-connected to wide-spread dissemination network
-policy-discussion groups at the center of the opinion-shaping network, but do not enter directly
-most important goals: influencing public schools, churches, and voluntary associations
Conflicts between corporate-conservative and liberal-labor alliances in the arena of public opinion (Discussion, Q1)
3

Public Relations/Public Affairs
Multi-billion dollar industry
PR v. PA

Created by power elite in 1920s to shape public opinion
Typically hired to work on specific issues rather than to shape general public opinion
PR firms usually operate through the mass media
Public affairs more benign than PR – usually operate within a large corporation
Work on polishing image
Creating doubt about scientific findings: role of PR firms
4

Who Shapes Public Opinion
Domhoff Concludes
the mass media aren’t that
important in shaping public
opinion
public opinion isn’t that
important anyway
Why does he conclude this?
Do you think he’s right?

“…it is unlikely that any focused public opinion exists on very many of the complicated legislative issues of concern to the corporate community…public opinion usually can be ignored….” (p. 130)

“Public opinion can have an
impact when people are forced out of
their routines…” or “leads to…social movements that challenge one or another aspect of the established order” (p. 130).

As a result, the public-opinion network, the power elite, and elected officials enjoy a great deal of leeway on many domestic and foreign policy issues.
Public opinion can usually be ignored because those opinions usually do not lead to opposition or disruption
Social disruption can lead to setbacks for incumbents and help fuel movements
6

The Political Spectrum in More Detail
How the Institutional Structure of Elections Matters
How the Power Elite Dominates Government
Chapter 6: Parties and Elections

Electoral rules as a containment strategy? The right to vote, districting, proportional representation, electoral college…
Voter suppression: poll tax, literacy tests, gerrymandering – single party districts
Why elections matter? Opportunity to register disapproval of government policies; a way to introduce new policies; initiative and referendum process
7

Most other industrialized nations offer more political choice and have substantially higher rates of political participation than the US.
How is this to be explained?

Why do most of them have
more political parties, including labor parties?
stronger unions?
universal health care?
stronger unemployment insurance systems?
stronger environmental legislation?
restrictions on plant closings?
less income and wealth inequality?

How do institutional factors in the U.S. produce different political outcomes than in other advanced capitalist countries?
The United States
Single-member district plurality system (winner-take-all elections)
Direct election of the president
Most other industrialized societies:
parliamentary systems
proportional representation or majority requirement

One of the net effects is that it provides opportunities for the corporate rich to influence and shape legislation.
10

Elections: In the U.S., the candidate selection process is crucial
the political parties are weak
parties have little control over candidates and elected officials
campaign financing of individual candidates is key to candidate success
influencing who is elected is more important than what party is elected

Following the Money
The Critical Importance of Campaign Finance
Image is more important than reality in winning elections
Symbolic social issues come to mean more than policy positions on health, labor, and other substantive issues

The Obama Donor Network: A Case History
The liberal-labor alliance: less influence that we might expect
12

Some Outcomes of the Candidate Selection Process
Great majority of top elected officials share a common legal or business background with members of upper class
79% of Congressmen in 2001 were business executives, bankers, realtors and lawyers
Exactly one former union official in House and Senate combined
Ideologically, most are pro-business conservatives

Recall the distinction between structural and instrumental power. Which form of power is Chapter 7 about? What are the mechanisms of such power?