C. Wright Mills quotes - page 3

Every revolution has its counterrevolution - that is a sign the revolution is for real. And every revolution must defend itself against this counterrevolution, or the revolution will fail. (C. Wright Mills)
Kindness and friendliness become aspects of personalized service or of public relations of big firms, rationalized to further the sale of something. With anonymous insincerity, the Successful Person thus makes an instrument of his own appearance and personality. View quote
C. Wright Mills
In a society of employees dominated by the marketing mentality, it is inevitable that a personality market should arise. For in the great shift from manual skills to the art of 'handling', selling and servicing people, personal or even intimate traits of employees are drawn into the sphere of exchange and become commodities in the labor market. View quote
C. Wright Mills
In the formulas of 'personnel experts', men and women are to be shaped into the 'well rounded, acceptable, effective personality.' Just like small proprietors, they cannot higgle over prices, which are fixed, or 'judge the market' and accordingly buy wisely. View quote
C. Wright Mills
It is not characteristic of American executives to read books, except books on 'management' and mysteries. ... Those who who do venture into this arena ... are looked upon by their colleagues with mingled awe and incredulity. View quote
C. Wright Mills
One great lesson that we can learn from its systematic absence in the work of the grand theorists is that every self-conscious thinker must at all times be aware of - and hence be able to control - the levels of abstraction on which he is working. The capacity to shuttle between levels of abstraction, with ease and with clarity, is a signal mark of the imaginative and systematic thinker. View quote
C. Wright Mills
Every revolution has its counterrevolution - that is a sign the revolution is for real. View quote
C. Wright Mills
The mass production of distraction is now as much a part of the American way of life as the mass production of automobiles. View quote
C. Wright Mills
The principal cause of war is war itself. View quote
C. Wright Mills
In the world of the celebrity, the hierarchy of publicity has replaced the hierarchy of descent and even of great wealth. View quote
C. Wright Mills
People with advantages are loath to believe that they just happen to be people with advantages. (C. Wright Mills)
Not wishing to be disturbed over moral issues of the political economy, Americans cling to the notion that the government is a sort of automatic machine, regulated by the balancing of competing interests. View quote
C. Wright Mills
The nearest the modern general or admiral comes to a small-arms encounter of any sort is at a duck hunt in the company of corporation executives at the retreat of Continental Motors, Inc. View quote
C. Wright Mills
In a society which the money-makers have had no serious rival for repute and honor, the word "practical" comes to mean useful for private gain, and "common sense," the sense to get ahead financially. The pursuit of the moneyed life is the commanding value, in relation to which the influence of others values has declined, so men eas**"Diagnosis of Our Moral Uneasiness", III. View quote
C. Wright Mills