ABSTRACT
This chapter takes into consideration the influence exerted by elitism on American studies to highlight its historical-cultural value for the American context. The chapter deals with the criticism of the democratic myth carried out by Joseph Schumpeter, Harold Lasswell, and Charles Wright Mills. In fact, these authors renewed the elitist lesson in the most original way. Elitism is not the only, nor the primary, source of inspiration for the aforementioned authors; nor were they the only ones to be influenced by it. More precisely, the object here is to discern how elitism runs as a common thread through their respective works. Classical democracy doctrine was questioned in the United States on the basis of a realistic analysis of its functioning, regardless of its ideals. In reflecting on this theme, Schumpeter, Lasswell, and Mills showed that they had assimilated the themes of classical elitism. American interpreters, however, did not take the detached gaze of those who comment on a doctrine developed abroad but showed the involvement of those who analyse the society in which they live.
