ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that the american superclass is able to use its financial and social capital to influence politicians to produce favorable outcomes. It analyzes the most privileged segment of the population—the upper class or superclass. The chapter deals with social class, race, and gender has a developmental section that demonstrates members’ relationship to social reproduction. It examines G. William Domhoff’s and thomas Dye’s contemporary theories of the power elite. Upper-class individuals possess various types of capital to promote their families’ needs and interests. Wealthy families possess a yearly income of minimally $150,000 a year and often considerably more, at least twice the national average. Upper-class and upper-middle-class boarding schools, which have expanded from dozens to several hundred, have developed a distinctive lifestyle. Prominent features have included patterns of hazing new students and requiring school blazers and ties, attendance at chapel services, and participation in elite sports as squash and crew.
