Books like The anti-democratic sources of elite theory by Robert A. Nye

Anand Giridharadas examines how the global elite’s attempts to ‘change the world’ often reinforce the status quo, revealing the hidden powers that shape modern social conditions.

C. Wright Mills’ 1956 classic examines how a tight-knit group of legislators, corporate leaders and military officers wield power to shape national decisions, sidelining genuine democracy.

A work of capital importance for the renewal of studies on the challenges of contemporary democracies, this book by Juan J. Linz addresses the phenomenon of the crisis of democracies and the rise of authoritarian regimes in the framework of interwar Europe, with special interest in the historical cases of Weimar Germany and the Second Spanish Republic.

Christopher Lasch argues that modern American democracy is endangered by professional and managerial elites who isolate themselves, ignore the middle class, and erode democratic ideals.

This monumental work, complete here in one volume, undertakes to determine scientifically what distinctive personality traits characterize the phenomenon of prejudice. The authors' purpose is to discover the social psychological factors which have made it possible for the authoritarian type of man - a new concept of an "anthropological" species - to threaten the survival of the individualistic and democratic type prevalent in the past century and a half of our civilization. The book mobilizes the skills of the different branches of the social sciences in one common research program. Experts in the fields of social theory and depth psychology, depth analysis, clinical psychology, political sociology and projective testing have pooled their methods and resources. Working in the closest cooperation, they here present a detailed picture of the authoritarian type of man. By isolating the destructive germ of the authoritarian personality, the book lays a major foundation for long-range attack upon the anti-democratic forces in modern society. (from the back cover.)