David Owen 309 a plurality of groups. Dahis book, not unexpectedly and, perhaps, not unintentionally. immediately sparked controversy i respect of problems of concept, theory, and met with regard to the s The conceptual, theoretical and methodological commitments which guided Dahls project were focused on addresing what he had earlier identified as a central problem with the methodological approach of sociologists and political scientists who presented he case that America was ruled by elites. What Dahl objected to in this approach was the exercise of power over actual apparent lack of there is a ruling elite (rather than, for example, a plurality of groups sometimes To test if winning, losing, Dahl reasoned th we need to be to the bership of the elite, to identify political decisions where the interests of the elite conflict with those of other groups, an to show that, in the major of important cases, the deci sions taken express the interests of the elite (Dahl, 1958).