Elites and American structural power in the global economy

Abstract

This article elaborates the nature of American structural power in order to link it to the elite networks identified elsewhere. Most of this special issue looks at elites in relation to instrumental and agenda setting power. But instrumental power—control over the machinery—is effective only to the degree that the machinery is effective, and the machinery is all about structural power. American global economic power rests on two structural foundations: the ability to unilaterally create credit in the global economy, and control over a disproportionate share of global production flows and the resulting stream of profits. Elites’ ability to exploit the opportunities created by structural power makes them the prime beneficiaries of that power. Moreover, the selection mechanisms that sort individuals into elite networks, via cohort and socialization effects, assure that these individuals generally act in the interests of the organizations and institutions that they represent, reproducing structural power.