A prisoner is a puppet: Neither has control. C. Wright Mills had it right when in 1956 he wrote:
The powers of ordinary men are circumscribed by the everyday worlds in which they live, yet even in these rounds of job, family, and neighborhood they often seem driven by forces they can neither understand nor govern. “Great changes” are beyond their control, but affect their conduct and outlook none the less. The very framework of modern society confines them to projects not their own, but from every side, such changes now press upon the men and women of the mass society, who accordingly feel that they are without purpose in an epoch in which they are without power.
(As quoted from page 3 of The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills. Oxford University Press, 2000. First edition in 1956.)
For a brief biography of C. Wright Mills, click here. For images of or relating to C. Wright Mills, click here.
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