Inside the Rise of America’s Oligarch Class—And What It Means For All of Us
In early 2014, a pair of political scientists published a striking study on the health, or lack thereof, of American democracy. Authored by Princeton University’s Martin Gilens and Northwestern Univesity’s Benjamin Page, the study combed through decades of data to
In 2014, two political scientists, Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, released a study revealing the true nature of American democracy. The researchers from Princeton and Northwestern University examined decades of data to determine who truly held power in the United States. Surprisingly, they found that the majority of Americans had little influence over government policies.
Instead, the study highlighted the disproportionate political control wielded by a select group of "economically elite Americans." These individuals, with their immense wealth, possessed an outsized impact on political decisions. Even when a majority of citizens disagreed with these economic elites, their influence often prevailed.
The findings suggested that the majority rule in the United States was nothing more than an illusion. By the mid-2010s, the study's conclusion seemed to be coming true, as wealth inequality continued to rise in America.
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