The Ruling Class and the Subjects
The ruling class and the subjects make up the two main social classes in most societies. According to Robert Michels, the government officials who run everything—including the media, businesses, and financial institutions—are the power elite (Lind 2010:46).
Policy Planning Networks
The key organizations that specify how community development agendas will be executed are referred to as the policy planning networks (Fridell and Hudson 2010:2).
Interlocking Directorates
The behavior of the power elites, on the other hand, who may offer to work in many government departments, is referred to as the interlocking directorates.
Class Dominance Theory
The class dominance theory dictates that the people who possess a lot of resources within the society also have the power that is required to run the society. According to the proponents of this theory, the capitalists (the people who own the factors of production) manage the society by controlling the working class, which leads to a conviction that money is the key factor that enables an individual to assume leadership.
Implications of Class Dominance Theory
The main implication of the class dominance theory of power for policy outcomes is that the policies are always designed in a manner that fulfills the interests of the power elites. In such a scenario, it is evident that the policies implemented may not address the issues affecting the community members since they are determined, formulated, and even implemented by the holders of the factors of production. The class dominance theory has the potential to adversely affect the democracy of the United States since the policy makers have to do as dictated by the elites at the expense of the electorate. Therefore, the theory of class dominance denotes that although the people may take part in an electoral process and elect their leaders, the democratic responsiveness is always tilted towards the ruling class, which includes the owners of factors of production.
The Glass-Steagall Act and the Dodd-Frank Act
The insight gained from the class dominance theory suggests that the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in an effort to empower the power elites to control the American society, by taking charge of the financial institutions once more. Since it was believed that the Glass-Steagall Act legislation was a major force behind the 2008/2009 financial crisis, the policymakers had formulated another act, the Dodd-Frank Act, which called for the regulation of the financial institutions (Sorkin 2016:3).
Evidence Supporting Class Dominance Theory
Some policymakers – more so the Republicans – even pointed out that a restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act would enhance the existence of a laissez-faire mechanism in the financial industry. The evidence produced by Suarez and Kolondy, Lind, and Fridell and Hudson supports the class dominance theory. To start with, Lind claims that the societies are controlled by oligarchies, who dominate the social institutions (Lind 2010:46). According to him, the oligarchies are made up of the elites who are in charge of a community’s culture, politics, and commerce. In addition, Fridell and Hudson (2010) cite that, the financial sector of any nation is controlled by the capitalists’ class. On the other hand, Suarez and Kolondy (2011), express an opinion that the capitalists – business – class is the strongest group in the society since it possesses all the economic power, which it makes use of in ensuring that their interests are safeguarded at all times. The scholars even decree that the dictates of the Financial Modernization Act (FMA) were designed to suit the interests of the banks’ owners (Suarez and Kolondy 2011:96). It is, hence, evident that the evidence put forward by all these scholars supports the class dominance theory.
The Reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act
I am convinced that the Glass-Steagall Act will be reinstated by the Congress since the elites’ class also controls the politics of a nation. Since it is evident that the Dodd-Frank Act had impacted negatively – through its stringent policies – on the capitalists’ class, there will be a need for the elites to increase their economic power, which would lead to the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act.
References
Tost, L. P., & Lind, A. (2010). Sounding the alarm: Moving from system justification to system
condemnation in the justice judgment process. Fairness and Groups, 13, 1.
Buffet, W. (2010). Mara Fridell & Mark Hudson Financialization, Enabling Policy and Elite
Policy Networks.
Suarez, S., & Kolodny, R. (2011). Paving the road to “too big to fail”: business interests and the
politics of financial deregulation in the United States. Politics & Society, 39(1), 74-102.
Sorkin. R. Andrew. (2016) One Thing Both Parties Want: To Break Up the Banks Again. The
New York Times, 33-38
