Long before "the one percent" became a protest slogan; American founding father John Adams feared the power of a class he called simply “the fewâ€â€•the wellborn; the beautiful; and especially the rich. In John Adams and the Fear of American Oligarchy; Luke Mayville presents the first extended exploration of Adams's preoccupation with a problem that has a renewed urgency today: the way in which inequality threatens to corrode democracy and empower a small elite. By revisiting Adams’s political writings; Mayville draws out the statesman’s fears about the danger of oligarchy in America and his unique understanding of the political power of wealth―a surprising and largely forgotten theory that promises to illuminate today’s debates about inequality and its political consequences.Adams believed that wealth is politically powerful in modern societies not merely because money buys influence; but also because citizens admire and even sympathize with the rich. He thought wealth is powerful in the same way that beauty is powerful―it distinguishes its possessor and prompts reactions of approval and veneration. Citizens vote for―and with―the rich not because; as is often said; they hope to be rich one day; but because they esteem the rich and submit to their wishes. Mayville explores Adams’s theory of wealth and power in the context of his broader concern about social and economic inequality; and also examines his ideas about how oligarchy might be countered.A compelling work of intellectual history; John Adams and the Fear of American Oligarchy also has important lessons for today’s world of increasing inequality.
#867149 in Books Princeton University Press 2011-06-20 2011-06-20Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.20 x .81 x 6.10l; 1.05 #File Name: 069114995X360 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A Compelling History and Exercise in SensemakingBy Robert D. JonesDobbin presents a thorough and academically solid review of the relevant innerworkings of this thread of American history. He has carefully braided the strands of democracy; policy; law; capitalism and socio-economic histories into a powerful cord that binds together the pieces of iron and clay that comprise the realities of EEO as we know it today. Dobbin had me anticipating his next book before I was done with section two of this one. Having lived much of the history he's reviewed; I readily recognized the picture he's painted. It makes sense. Whether you end up agreeing with his portrayals and perspectives or not; Dobbin presents a view that cannot be ignored for serious students of the "Diversity" game.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Frank Dobbin; documenting the entire transformation process of equal ...By FangFrank Dobbin; documenting the entire transformation process of equal opportunity from law to practice; challenges conventional wisdom that it was politicians; activists and judges who brought equal opportunity in to being. Instead; personnel managers and professionals were to be surveyed.　　　　In a lengthy study of equal opportunity’s evolution; Dobbin found that in a sweeping executive and legislative ban of discrimination; neither President John F. Kennedy nor the Congress or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) bothered to clearly define the term (pp.23-35). Corporate executives; on the other hand; had to charge their personnel directors with the task of figuring out how to rule out discrimination in employment. They first attempted to expand the practice of union welfare policies and increased recruitment in historically black colleges (pp. 41-60) and led to an increase of black male workers in industrial plants. In the 1970s; to adapt to stringent requirements of federal contracts; personnel managers also began to produce more detailed outlines for practices; such as clear description of job skills required; job posting and new schemes of salary classifications. These practices; however; were mostly transformed from older customs (pp. 98-100); and were legitimized by courts only after they were produced; most typically in the case of grievance procedures (pp. 91-97).　　　　In the 1980s; facing the Ronald Regan government and the “neoliberal†turn of American political economy; many of the racial-based practice were either abandoned or were given less attention from courts; legislatures and popular opinions. Hence personnel professionals not only transformed themselves into “human resources†professionals; but also switched the focus of equal opportunity to production efficiency and sexual/gender equality; under the name of “diversity management†(pp.143-158). Dobbin argues that since the 1980s; equal opportunity policies designed and diffused by mostly white female human resource profession tilted more towards sexual and gender equality (pp.161-166). Ironically; for Dobbin; the originally racial/ethnic-based civil rights movement eventually settled on sex/gender biases (pp.187-189).　　　　All in all; for Dobbin; executive policies of equal opportunity did not automatically created equal employment opportunity; but they had to be adopted and invented by personnel experts in “wave upon wave of corporate programs†(p.13). Courts; EEOC and CEOs only confirmed the selections of such practices later; which became the common institutions in corporations. On the other hand; this whole historical process might have had the effect of circumventing the equal opportunity movement in to a mere question of certain types of equality; corporate practices and production efficiency; denying further moral and legal debates and popular supervision (pp.227-233). The book’s combination of documentary research and data collection successfully combines sociological analytics with economic insights. This book not only reveals the interaction between social activism; bureaucracy; institutions and social practices; but also stirs reflections upon the operation of the hierarchical; highly mechanized and institutionalized democracy of America.　　
