This discussion seminar will critically examine the contemporary dynamics of wealth, power, and elite institutions in shaping public policy in the US. Topics include the historical roots of wealth production and distribution; how economic elites shape political governance and democratic processes; how neoliberalism and market-based solutions originated, and later dominated, public policy; the phenomenon of billionaires and their centrality in a capitalist system; the moral dimensions of wealth creation and its influence in politics; and the the cultural depiction of wealth and power in policy, as expressed through popular media, art, drama, and literature.
