Oligarchy in America : Power, Justice, and the Rule of the Few / Luke Winslow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Winslow, Luke, 1980- author.

Series:

Rhetoric, culture, and social critique.

Rhetoric, Culture, and Social Critique Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Oligarchy--United States.

Oligarchy.

Rhetoric--Political aspects--United States.

Rhetoric.

Power (Social sciences)--United States.

Power (Social sciences).

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (313 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Tuscaloosa : The University of Alabama Press, [2024]

Summary:

"To an American, oligarchy is something that happens somewhere else. In Oligarchy in America, Luke Winslow reveals oligarchy's deep intellectual roots and alarming growth in America. The book provides conceptual tools the lack of which have prevented Americans from recognizing oligarchy at home. Winslow argues that generic labels like "billionaires" for a class of ultra-rich masks the pervasive structures that entrench their power. He introduces instead the concept of democratic oligarchy-an institutional arrangement in which the ultra-rich form a class consciously creating and leveraging state power to accumulate wealth. Like a master class in political ideas, Winslow traces the intellectual lineage of oligarchy in the US. His lively and compulsively readable survey examines key rhetorical sources such as Herbert Spencer, Andrew Carnegie, Friedrich Hayek, Lewis Powell, Milton Friedman, Charles Koch, Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, and others. Oligarchy in America maps the connective web of oligarchic ideas uniting these disparate figures. By offering a lucid framework through which to view oligarchic ideas ambient in American culture, Winslow makes a vital contribution to readers and scholars of communication and rhetorical studies, public address, economics, and political science"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

The rhetoric of democratic oligarchy

Survival of the fittest and the rhetoric of Herbert Spencer

Natural law and the rhetoric of Andrew Carnegie

The road to oligarchy and the rhetoric of Friedrich Hayek

Judicial oligarchy and the rhetoric of James J. Kilpatrick

Cultivating political power and the rhetoric of Lewis F. Powell

The laws of science and the rhetoric of Milton Friedman

Conjoint depletion and the rhetoric of James M. Buchanan

The science of success and the rhetoric of Charles Koch

Class consciousness and the rhetoric of Tucker Carlson

Conclusion : the oligarchy we deserve.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780817365240

0817365249

OCLC:

1455749700