G. William Domhoff: the Adventures and Regrets of a Professor of Dreams and Power 1

G. William Domhoff: The Adventures and Regrets of a Professor of Dreams and Power Interviewed by Sarah Rabkin Edited by Irene Reti Santa Cruz University of California, Santa Cruz University Library 2014 This oral history is covered by a copyright agreement between G. William Domhoff and the Regents of the University of California dated February 12, 2014. Under “fair use” standards, excerpts of up to six hundred words (per interview) may be quoted without the University Library’s permission as long as the materials are properly cited. Quotations of more than six hundred words require the written permission of the University Librarian and a proper citation and may also require a fee. Under certain circumstances, not-for-profit users may be granted a waiver of the fee. For permission contact: Irene Reti [email protected] or Regional Oral History Project, McHenry Library, UC Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064. Phone: 831-459-2847. Table of Contents Interview History 1 Early Life 3 A Passion for Sports 34 Duke University 52 Majoring in PsyChology 66 Graduate SChool at Kent State University 74 Calvin Hall 79 The Beginnings of Dream ResearCh 83 A European Adventure and Marriage 85 Moving to California 88 California State University, Los Angeles, and Dissertation ResearCh 90 The Beginnings of ResearCh in SoCiology 99 The Genesis of Who Rules America? 104 Coming to the University of California, Santa Cruz 105 RefleCtions on the College Core Courses 116 College Courses 120 Culture Break 122 A UCSC Baseball Team 123 More on the UCSC College System 125 Other Early UCSC ACtivities 131 What’s Different About UC Santa Cruz 132 The Banana Slug MasCot 133 Chairing the Committee on ACademiC Personnel (CAP) 137 Chair of the Statewide Committee on Preparatory EduCation 149 Chairing the ACademiC Senate 151 Taking VERIP 160 Dean of SoCial SCienCes 162 Committee on Emeriti Relations 175 The TrajeCtory of Domhoff’s ResearCh 179 More on Calvin Hall 180 Student ResearChers 183 Who Rules America and The Higher Circles 184 Fat Cats and Democrats: The Role of Big Rich in the Party of the Common Man 190 The Bohemian Grove and Other Retreats: A Study of Ruling Class Cohesiveness 195 A Study of New Haven 203 Who Rules America Now? 209 The Powers That Be 211 A Broader PolitiCal Context 213 The 1980s 223 Ralph Nader and the Green Party 226 Changing the Powers That Be: How the Left Can Stop Losing and Win 227 Santa Cruz Harbor Commission 228 The PolitiCs of UCSC’s Growth 230 Looking Back 233 A New Generation of SoCiologists 237 The Mystique of Dreams 248 “My Rehabilitation” 251 Finding Meaning in Dreams: A Quantitative Approach 254 State Autonomy or Class Dominance? 257 Two Key Colleagues 258 Jews in the Protestant Establishment 260 Blacks in the White Establishment?: A Study of Race and Class in America 263 Diversity in the Power Elite 265 The New CEOs: Women, African American, Latino, and Asian American Leaders of Fortune 500 Companies 266 dreamresearCh.net 268 dreambank.net 269 More on Who Rules America? 271 The Scientific Study of Dreams: Neural Networks, Cognitive Development and Content Analysis 276 The Leftmost City: Power and Progressive Politics in Santa Cruz 277 Current ResearCh 281 G. William Domhoff: The Adventures and Regrets of a Professor of Dreams and Power 1 Interview History G. William (Bill) Domhoff is a research professor of psychology and sociology at UC Santa Cruz. He arrived at the campus in the fall of 1965 as an assistant professor in the psychology department, affiliated with Cowell College, and is one of UCSC’s founding faculty members. Domhoff was born in 1936 near Cleveland, Ohio; he received his BA at Duke University, his MA at Kent State University, and his PhD in psychology at the University of Miami. He taught at California State University, Los Angeles for three years before arriving at UCSC. Domhoff’s reputation as a scholar extends far beyond UCSC; four of his books were among the top fifty best sellers in sociology for the years 1950 to 1995: Who Rules America? (1967, #12); The Higher Circles (1970, #39); The Powers That Be (1979, #47); and Who Rules America Now? (1983, #43). While he began his career as a psychologist; what is remarkable is that Domhoff has made significant contributions to two fields: sociology (in power structure research), and psychology (research on dreams). Domhoff’s dual career was perhaps more possible at UC Santa Cruz, which, particularly in its early years, encouraged faculty to engage in cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary research. This oral history has two major foci. The first is Domhoff’s recollections of UC Santa Cruz over the entire (nearly) fifty year history of the campus, including his memories of the early years playing baseball with students at Cowell College; his thoughts on the unique features of UC Santa Cruz such as the colleges, the Narrative Evaluation System, and the Banana Slug Mascot, as well as his administrative work on several key committees, as chair of the Academic Senate, and as dean of social sciences. Domhoff took early retirement from UCSC in 1994 G. William Domhoff: The Adventures and Regrets of a Professor of Dreams and Power 2 and continued to be an active scholar in both of his fields. The second focus of this narrative is to explore the trajectory of a prolific, eclectic, and accomplished scholar. As is evident in this oral history, Domhoff has never truly retired; he continues to research, write, and publish. In 2007 he received the University of California's Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award, which honors the postretirement contributions of UC faculty. Much of his work is now accessible on two web sites: www.whorulesamerica.net and www.DreamResearch.net. The interview was conducted over six sessions in April and May of 2013, by Sarah Rabkin, for a total of about thirteen hours of interviewing time. Domhoff reviewed the transcript of the audio recordings, making corrections and clarifications, and engaging in editing with sharp eyes, dedication, and tireless energy. I thank him for his generosity and good spirits. Thank you also to Cameron Vanderscoff, who tenaciously dove into transcribing thirteen hours of recording in the midst of his graduate studies, and to Sarah Rabkin, interviewer extraordinaire. Copies of this volume are on deposit in Special Collections and in the circulating stacks at the UCSC Library, as well as on the library’s website. The Regional History Project is supported administratively by Elisabeth Remak- Honnef, Head of Special Collections and Archives, and Interim University Librarian, Elizabeth Cowell. —Irene Reti, Director, Regional History Project, University Library University of California, Santa Cruz, February 14, 2014 G. William Domhoff: The Adventures and Regrets of a Professor of Dreams and Power 3 Early Life Rabkin: This is Sarah Rabkin. And I am with Bill Domhoff for our first interview in my kitchen in Soquel, California, on April 8th, 2013. So Bill, let’s start with when and where you were born, and tell me a bit about your family background. Domhoff: I was born in Youngstown, Ohio on August 6th, 1936. I lived there the first four or five years of my life, and basically never returned except to visit my grandparents, because we moved on to live in a town called Steubenville, down the river from Youngstown. Lived there, maybe from the first to the third grade, and then moved to the east side of Cleveland, to a small town called Lyndhurst. Lived there for a year or two. And then by the sixth grade I was at a school in Rocky River, Ohio. And that became, what to me, was my hometown. A great place. I really think I blossomed for kidhood, for childhood, there. But we would just visit to Youngstown. So I was born in Youngstown. My parents are of Youngstown. But I’m not in really quite, in any conscious sense, from Youngstown. Now, as far as my family—my father was born in 1905. He had a father who was of German background, although born and raised in the United States, and bilingual. And my Grandfather Domhoff worked in the steel mill. He was a foreman in the steel mill by the time I knew of him. And from pictures you can tell that he started working out in the steel mill, worked his way up. His mother, my dad’s mother, was actually an English immigrant. So she came to this country at age eleven or twelve. And her family had served in the military. I think her parents came as well. So right away, it’s a mixed kind of family. G. William Domhoff: The Adventures and Regrets of a Professor of Dreams and Power 4 And what I didn’t know about my father’s upbringing until I was an adult—and it’s an interesting commentary, I realized much later, on mobility in America—he had a huge cousinhood. I was stunned when I learned this in my thirties or forties: He had twenty-six or so cousins. Rabkin: Wow. Domhoff: Because my Grandpa Domhoff had a brother that married a sister of his wife. And then there were others. And she had other brothers and sisters. They all lived within a few miles of each other, so you never knew who was going to be at lunch. So you grew up in that huge kind of thing. He got encouragement; he went to college. I think he was the first, probably, one in that family, although others may have gone, out of that huge cousinhood. And he went to Ohio State.

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