At the top of the economy are the CEOs, at the top of the military are the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and at the top of the political domain are the boards of directors politicians. There are higher levels of control in the major domains, and people between these higher levels tend to gather and make decisions, thus forming the power elite. People think of members of the highest levels in terms of what they own, what they own. The elites, however, are not defined only by those who have abundance because if it were not for their stature they would not have these goods we are talking about. Members of these higher levels are seen as groups of people who commonly interact with each other and take each other's opinions and concerns into account when formulating a decision. Collectively they are seen as the “upper class”. They are all part of this social class and therefore they treat people of different social classes differently. People of the upper classes gain an understanding of what they have in common with each other and use their stature to close ranks against outsiders or people of different social backgrounds.