The question at the center of the seventeenth edition of THE IRONY OF DEMOCRACY is How democratic is American society This book asks you to consider this question and offers you an eye opening framework for determining your own answers While most American government textbooks address politics from a pluralist perspective the theory that many groups of people share power in the United States this text approaches the subject using an elitist perspective the theory that only a tiny number of people make the decisions that shape our lives By exposing you to the irony between elitism and democratic theory and modern pluralism this book helps you understand why the U S government works as it does The question at the center of the seventeenth edition of THE IRONY OF DEMOCRACY is How democratic is American society This book asks you to consider this question and offers you an eye opening framework for determining your own answers While most American government textbooks address politics from ...a pluralist perspective the theory that many groups of people share power in the United States this text approaches the subject using an elitist perspective the theory that only a tiny number of people make the decisions that shape our lives By exposing you to the irony between elitism and democratic theory and modern pluralism this book helps you understand why the U S government works as it does