Rulers and the ruled: political power and impotence in American communities

This is a book about democracy. It is also, and necessarily so, about oligarchy. It is fundamentally an exploration and adventure in political theory in which empirical studies of community politics provide materials for keeping the theory in touch with reality. The four communities selected for our inquiry illuminate, to greater or lesser degrees, national processes and problems of economic growth and in stability, of urbanization and rising welfare expectations, of inter group harmony and discord, as well as the processes and problems of organizing and operating democratic polities. The American com munity reflects national processes and problems in microcosm; and national processes and problems are in many ways the processes and problems of the nation's communities. It is to be hoped that this inquiry into the politics of four communities located in two regions of the United States the South and the West-will be illuminating and suggestive to the student of national as well as of local politics.
One of our most difficult problems as students of politics was to avoid a personal and professional preoccupation with the fascinating particulars of community politics at the expense of relevant generalizations. It was almost impossible to avoid being entranced by events that actually occurred in the politics of one or more of our four communities.