The complex interconnections of sexual abuse, greed, power and influence, and the unholy mix of financiers, politicians, royalty, celebrities, the military, intellectuals and others with actual or perceived ‘power’ that we can all see in the release of the Epstein files, is a site for sociological analysis as well as political and legal commentary. One writer alive to this was C. Wright Mills, who, in 1956, in his book The Power Elite, precisely and critically analysed the rise of powerful elite groups who, through connections and interconnections, began to undermine democratic values, the rule of law, and the very basis of morality. What emerges is what Mills refers to as ‘the higher immorality’.
He writes “status, no longer rooted primarily in local communities, follows the big hierarchies, which are on the national scale. Status follows the big money, even if it has a touch of the gangster about it. Status follows power, even if it be without background.” (Mills 1956: 357)
Politicians, celebrities, industrialists, and the very Rich begin to operate in higher circles of mass Society and constitute the elite, an elite which operates in its own interests. Their power and interests allow them to circumvent ‘ordinary life’ and its associated rules and conventions. Want to understand? Read Mills.
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