Authority implies expertise and legitimacy. For example, a physician has authority when speaking about someone’s health. In politics, leaders with authority are accepted, and social discontent is unlikely. Mills argues that the power elite lack authority because they did not earn their positions through merit and do not operate from a rational moral ideology, but they disguise this fact; the public does not realize the extent of the power exerted by this class.

A bureaucracy is “an organized hierarchy of skills and authorities, within which each office and rank is restricted to specialized tasks” (235-6). Advancement of position is based on knowledge and skill, as demonstrated by examinations or experience. Mills argues that there is no real bureaucracy in the US because those in the top positions did not advance for such reasons. Rather, they advance through wealth and socialization—the "right" schools, colleges, clubs, and marriages—and are promoted through the ranks as a result of their similarity to those already in power.

Class consciousness refers to an awareness of one’s socioeconomic position in terms of class and its placement in the overall class system. Those with class consciousness recognize other members of their class and relate to them.