Domhoff, G. William (1936–)

G. WILLIAM Domhoff is a retired research professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who continues to write about his interests in both psychology and sociology. In psychology, his focus is the scientific study of dreams. However, this prolific social scientist's most prominent contribution can be found in sociology, specifically in the area of the power structure in the United States.

Domhoff's perspectives about power relations in society can be traced to the work of economist Paul Sweezy, political scientist Robert Dahl, sociologists E. Digby Baltzell and Floyd Hunter, and especially the maverick political sociologist C. Wright Mills. From Mills, Domhoff borrowed the concept of the power elite, a ruling group who controls power in society by dominating the business, military, and governmental institutions. In Domhoff's conception, however, the elites are a cohesive group of people from the top social and economic strata in America.

Domhoff began his thesis with Who Rules America in 1967, a work that became a pioneering landmark in political sociology. The power elite, according to Domhoff's conceptualization, is a homogenous unit whose high level of cohesion can be traced to attendance at prestigious preparatory school and Ivy League institutions, membership in higher social circles and elite clubs, similar recreation patterns, and a common world view. The power elite maintains this cohesion despite the “antagonisms” of varying religious and ethic backgrounds, political affiliation, and the dichotomy of old-versus.-new money. This group, the seat of power in the United States, exerts an enormous influence on the business sector, the government, and various regulatory agencies.

After an elaboration on this theme in other works that focused more on the issue of upper class domination, Domhoff published an often cited study of upper class social clubs (which he called “watering holes”), the Bohemia Grove club, the[Page 260] Rancheros Visitadores (visiting ranchers), and the Roundup Riders of the Rockies. In this work, The Bohemian Grove and other Retreats, he posited that clubs that focus on recreation also play a pivotal role in making the higher circles an elite and cohesive group.

G. William Domhoff co-authored Diversity in the Power Elite, which explores the issue of diversity in American society as it relates to entrance into the circles of the power elite.

From the 1970s onward, Domhoff completed a series of works that examine the power elite from the macro level of analysis he used in Who Rules America. These works focus particularly on the issue of how the political landscape is molded by the power elite. Along with Richard L. Zweigenhaft, Domhoff continued his exploration of power structure by including the variables of race in Blacks in the White Establishment in 1991, and a follow-up report Blacks in the White Elite in 2003.

Another recent work, Diversity in the Power Elite, explores the issue of diversity in American society as it relates to entrance into the circles of the power elite. Despite some major changes in upward social mobility by women and other minority populations, Domhoff and his colleague Zweigenhaft concluded that the new diversity created little change in the overall structure of the higher circles. Domhoff continues to research aspects of power structure as well as his psychological interests. It is likely that, other than C. Wright Mills (and of course, Karl Marx), no other person has made more significant contributions to the study of class and power elitism than Domhoff.

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