G. William Domhoff is possibly the world’s authority on the influence America’s corporate elite has upon state policy. In this book, he puts to rest any claim that their influence has ever waned. He looks at so-called “liberal periods,” like the New Deal, when there clearly were reforms, beneficial to the ordinary citizens, and shows they were possible only because a sector of the upper class judged them as serving their interests as well. From the Great Depression to the Great Recession, a conflict brewed within the corporate elite. On one side were “liberals”, who believed the long-term viability of capitalism required accommodations to labor and other non-rich. On the other side were “conservatives” who were unwilling to make any concessions that would dilute capitalist purity. With both sides committed to preserving capitalism and protecting corporate interest, the factions agreed on far more than they disagreed.
Even in times like the New Deal or the Great Society, the conservatives were ever-present and able to place severe constraints on any possible reforms. Those reforms were largely a liberal capitalist accommodation to demands from labor, women, racial minority and left-wing students. The corporate liberals transmuted this left opposition in ways, which served them. Feminism and civil rights were manipulated to integrate those movements’ potential leadership into the corporate hierarchy. These concessions were never acceptable to conservatives, who were now able to undermine the labor movement and its allies and galvanize support among working class whites who feared their jobs, communities, values and life style were under attack. This new alliance help solidify the power of the conservatives, who have dominated since the Reagan Revolution, and prevented Democratic liberal administrations like Clinton’s or Obama’s from attempting programs, even vaguely approaching the New Deal or the Great Society. Anyone who wants to understand the origins of the current conservative period should read this book.