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Amern Establishment
An exploration of the American Establishment--from its historical roots, major institutions, and key figures to its mediating role--as a "third force" in American life
351 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
21 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 14, 2025
Leonard Silk and Mark Silk’s The American Establishment (1980) is a significant contribution to the sociological and political analysis of elite power in the United States. Positioned within a long scholarly lineage that includes C. Wright Mills, G. William Domhoff, and other analysts of power-elite structures, the Silks’ work offers a measured, empirically grounded exploration of how institutional elites exercise influence across the major domains of American public life. Their study stands out for its methodological clarity, its avoidance of conspiratorial overtones, and its attempt to conceptualize elite cohesion without reducing it to a monolithic ruling class.
At the heart of the book is the concept of an “establishment”—a loosely integrated network of individuals embedded in finance, law, business, media, academia, and high-level government service. The Silks argue that this establishment does not operate through secret coordination or rigid hierarchy; rather, its influence stems from the density of interlocking roles, shared educational backgrounds, convergent social norms, and overlapping institutional memberships. This emphasis on “circulation” and “overlap” reflects a nuanced understanding of elite formation that draws upon both classical sociological insights and contemporary organizational analysis.
The authors adopt a prosopographic approach, mapping elite networks through biographical data and institutional affiliations. Their empirical chapters examine the structural role of major law firms, investment banks, and think tanks—particularly the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institution, and similar policy-planning bodies. The Silks show how these institutions serve as conduits through which ideas circulate and through which professional elites are socialized into common assumptions about national interest, global order, and economic management. This institutional focus is one of the book’s greatest strengths, demonstrating how the everyday practices of recruitment, consultancy, and inter-organizational cooperation reproduce elite consensus over time.
One of the authors’ most compelling arguments is that the American establishment constitutes a “moderating” force within the political system. Their analysis suggests that establishment actors are predisposed toward centrist policy solutions, incremental reform, and internationalist foreign policy orientations. This perspective resonates with mid-20th-century liberal institutionalism and helps explain the recurring pattern of bipartisan agreement on core elements of U.S. foreign and economic policy during the postwar era. At the same time, the Silks are careful not to overstate establishment unity, noting the existence of internal divisions, ideological disagreements, and competing corporate or sectoral interests.
Critically, the book’s restrained analytical style—its refusal to sensationalize elite power—may strike some readers as a limitation. The Silks deliberately distance themselves from more radical theories of ruling-class dominance, but in doing so they occasionally underplay the structural inequalities that undergird elite cohesion. Likewise, because the work was published in 1980, it does not address subsequent transformations in American capitalism, such as the rise of financialization, the globalization of corporate ownership, or the emergence of Silicon Valley as a new locus of elite influence. Nonetheless, the conceptual architecture they provide remains valuable for interpreting these later developments.
In retrospect, The American Establishment occupies an important middle ground in the scholarly literature. It is less polemical than the critiques of corporate power that preceded it, yet more sociologically rigorous than many popular accounts of elite influence. Its enduring contribution lies in its balanced articulation of how elites wield structural power: not through conspiracy, but through institutional density, shared worldviews, and durable patterns of recruitment and interaction.
Overall, the Silks’ study remains an essential resource for scholars of political sociology, American governance, and elite theory. Its combination of empirical mapping and conceptual clarity provides a durable framework for understanding how establishment networks shape policy, discourse, and the long-term architecture of American political power.
GPT
At the heart of the book is the concept of an “establishment”—a loosely integrated network of individuals embedded in finance, law, business, media, academia, and high-level government service. The Silks argue that this establishment does not operate through secret coordination or rigid hierarchy; rather, its influence stems from the density of interlocking roles, shared educational backgrounds, convergent social norms, and overlapping institutional memberships. This emphasis on “circulation” and “overlap” reflects a nuanced understanding of elite formation that draws upon both classical sociological insights and contemporary organizational analysis.
The authors adopt a prosopographic approach, mapping elite networks through biographical data and institutional affiliations. Their empirical chapters examine the structural role of major law firms, investment banks, and think tanks—particularly the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institution, and similar policy-planning bodies. The Silks show how these institutions serve as conduits through which ideas circulate and through which professional elites are socialized into common assumptions about national interest, global order, and economic management. This institutional focus is one of the book’s greatest strengths, demonstrating how the everyday practices of recruitment, consultancy, and inter-organizational cooperation reproduce elite consensus over time.
One of the authors’ most compelling arguments is that the American establishment constitutes a “moderating” force within the political system. Their analysis suggests that establishment actors are predisposed toward centrist policy solutions, incremental reform, and internationalist foreign policy orientations. This perspective resonates with mid-20th-century liberal institutionalism and helps explain the recurring pattern of bipartisan agreement on core elements of U.S. foreign and economic policy during the postwar era. At the same time, the Silks are careful not to overstate establishment unity, noting the existence of internal divisions, ideological disagreements, and competing corporate or sectoral interests.
Critically, the book’s restrained analytical style—its refusal to sensationalize elite power—may strike some readers as a limitation. The Silks deliberately distance themselves from more radical theories of ruling-class dominance, but in doing so they occasionally underplay the structural inequalities that undergird elite cohesion. Likewise, because the work was published in 1980, it does not address subsequent transformations in American capitalism, such as the rise of financialization, the globalization of corporate ownership, or the emergence of Silicon Valley as a new locus of elite influence. Nonetheless, the conceptual architecture they provide remains valuable for interpreting these later developments.
In retrospect, The American Establishment occupies an important middle ground in the scholarly literature. It is less polemical than the critiques of corporate power that preceded it, yet more sociologically rigorous than many popular accounts of elite influence. Its enduring contribution lies in its balanced articulation of how elites wield structural power: not through conspiracy, but through institutional density, shared worldviews, and durable patterns of recruitment and interaction.
Overall, the Silks’ study remains an essential resource for scholars of political sociology, American governance, and elite theory. Its combination of empirical mapping and conceptual clarity provides a durable framework for understanding how establishment networks shape policy, discourse, and the long-term architecture of American political power.
GPT
November 13, 2020
The most absorbing and enlightening work on power in America since David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest.
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews