Power and Civilization in America


'Equally objectionable to the pluralists and to us-is the sociologists’ hypothesis that the power structure tends to be stable over time.'

Taking into consideration that this was published in the early 60's by  a male, i'm going to have to say this article could use some editing. I choose this quote because it shows that an agreement can not be made on the true distribution of power.

Neither side, the pluralist, elite nor the sociologist can agree how power is shared. The text states 'Pluralists hold that power may be tied to issues, and issues can be fleeting or persistent, provoking coalitions among interested groups and citizens, ranging in their duration from momentary to semi-permanent'. While another group the elite states'  A third criticism of the elitist model is that it wrongly equates reputed with actual power:'

I believe neither have proven to be accurate, for the Pluralists', they seem to base their power on the issues that may arise in a town, city or state and how they are resolved. Not every citizen will share the same problem not every problem can be solved and even if they can it might take a period of time. During that period of resolution, is power being given to the citizen as the wait or to the 'mayor'?