ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that in fact a ruling class does dominate country, a suggestion which not only flies in the face of prevailing academic wisdom, but raises problems for political activists as well. It describes four processes through which the wealthy few who are the ruling class dominate government. The distinction between ruling class and power elite allows us to deal with the everyday observation, which is also the first objection raised by critics of ruling-class theory, that some members of the ruling class are not involved in ruling, and that some rulers are not members of upper class. The chapter considers the interaction between the policy process and the political process; it is not surprising that there is a considerable continuity of policy between Republican and Democratic administrations. It describes that the notion of public policy being influenced to any great extent by the will of the people due to the competition between the two political parties is misguided.
