“Those in authority within institutions and social structures attempt to justify their rule by linking it, as if it were a necessary consequence, with moral symbols, sacred emblems, or legal formulae which are widely believed and deeply internalized. These central conceptions may refer to a god or gods, the 'votes of the majority,' the 'will of the people,' the 'aristocracy of talents or wealth,' to the 'divine right of kings' or to the alleged extraordinary endowment of the person of the ruler himself.” PeopleIfsMayPersonsSocialWealthMoralTalentDivineKingsAuthorityConsequenceVoteInstitutionsSacredMajorityStructureExtraordinarySymbolsJustifyConceptionRulersAristocracyEndowmentEmblemsSocial StructureDivine RightDivine Right Of Kings Author:C. Wright Mills
“No one can be truly powerful unless he has access to the command of major institutions, for it is over these institutional means of power that the truly powerful are, in the first instance, truly powerful . . .” FirstsMeanPowerfulMajorsInstitutionsAccessCommandInstance Book:The Power Elite Source: The Power Elite
“Power is not of a man. Wealth does not center in the person of the wealthy. Celebrity is not inherent in any personality. To be celebrated, to be wealthy, to have power requires access to major institutions.” MenPersonsDoeWealthPersonalityMajorsInstitutionsAccessWealthyInherent Book:The Power Elite Source: The Power Elite
“What we experience in various and specific milieux, I have noted, is often caused by structural changes. Accordingly, to understand the changes of many personal milieux we are required to look beyond them. And the number and variety of such structural changes increase as the institutions within which we live become more embracing and more intricately connected with one another. To be aware of the idea of social structure and to use it with sensibility is to be capable of tracing such linkages among a great variety of milieux. To be able to do that is to possess the sociological imagination” LooksIdeasUseAbleSocialImaginationNumbersCapableIncreaseInstitutionsStructureVariousConnectedVarietySensibilitySocial StructureSociologicalTracingLinkages Book:The Sociological Imagination Source: The Sociological Imagination
