Whatever Happened to the Power Elite?

American democracy, it's blindingly evident, is in crisis. Terms that once characterized faraway repressive regimes-oligarchy, elite, plutocracy-are now invoked to describe the current political moment. And Americans are aware of the threat the country's power imbalance poses: A 2024 Pew poll found that 74 percent of them-including 65 percent of Donald Trump supporters-feel that major corporations have "too much power."