Some interesting scholarship on this has happened in the last 5-6 years: https://www.vox.com/2016/5/9/11502464/gilens-page-oligarchy-study https://www.vox.com/2

Some interesting scholarship on this has happened in the last 5-6 years: https://www.vox.com/2016/5/9/11502464/gilens-page-oligarchy-study https://www.vox.com/2016/5/9/11502464/gilens-page-oligarchy-... TLDR: it's pretty debatable