>Jim Devine wrote about my confusion concerning the ruling class:
>>
>>
>>It's useful to distinguish between the "ruling class" and the
>>"governing class" (or power elite) in order to clarify this.
>
>So according to this terminology, Doug's interested in the
>psychology of the governing class/power elite, not the ruling class.
>(It's strange to me how fuzzy the concept "ruling class" is on a
>left-wing
>mail list!)
Hmm, that's not the way I'm thinking of it. I'm thinking of a politically engaged subset of the bourgeoisie who, with the help of hired hands (lobbyists, politicians, pundits, professors, publicists), control state policy and the production of ideology.
Doug