Corporations, Classes and Capitalism

219 Pages·1979·30.476 MB·English

by  John Scott

Corporations, Classes
f.; Capitalism
-6 12; . s
Scott
Lecturer in Sociology,
of
University Leicester
Hutchinson
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First published 1979
Reprinted 1981
© John Scott 1979
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data,
Scott, John
Corporations, classes and capitalism.
1. Capitalism
I. Title
330.12'2 HB501
ISBN 0 09 136980 0 cased
0 09 136981 9 paper
For Jill, Mzlc}1ae/ and Susan

Contents
List of tables 9
Acknowledgements 12
Preface 13
1 Contending theories of industrial capitalism 15
The theory of industrial society 17
The theory of capitalist society 23
2 Property relations and the mediation of control 30
Legal forms and social relations 30
Modes and mechanisms of control 38
3 Capital ownership and strategic control 48
Ownership and control in the USA 49
Ownership and control in Britain 60
Further evidence: Europe, Australia and Canada 69
4 Finance capital and strategic control 75
Who controls the controllers ? 76
From Financial empires to spheres of inNuenoe 83
Corporate interlocking and bank power 95
5 The corporation and the class structure 105
Relations of possession and social classes 106
The managerial reorganization of the propertied class 112
The structuration of the propertied class 123
6 The economy and the state 134
Market behaviour and capital accumulation 134
The emergence of a political economy 145
The mechanisms of state intervention 150
8 Contents
7 The internationalization of capital and
the multinational company 159
The movement of international capital 159
The multinational company and the national economy 164
8 The corporation in capitalist society: some conclusions 172
Notes 179
Bibliography 185
Index 213
Tables
1 Shareholders in the largest US non-Iinancial corporations
(1929) 49
2 Ultimate strategic control in the 200 largest U S non-
financial corporations (1929) 50
3 Shareholders in the largest US nonfinancial
corporations (1937) 52
4 Holdings by the twenty largest shareholders in the
largest US non-financial corporations (1937) 52
5 Strategic control in the 200 largest US non-financial
corporations (1937) 53
6 Share distribution for 'average' US corporation (1951) 54
7 Ultimate strategic control in the 200 largest US
non-financial corporations (1963) 56
8 Strategic control in the top 500 U S industrial
corporations (1965) 56
9 Strategic control in the top 200 US non-Nnancial
companies (1965) 57
10 Identity of controllers in the top 200 US non-financial
companies (1965) 57
11 Family control in top US corporations (1965) 58
12 Strategic control of top corporations in England (1936)
and the USA (1937) 61
13 Shareholdings by the top twenty shareholders in
England (1936) and the USA (1937) 61
14 Relative significance of large shareholders in England
(1936) and the USA (1937) 62
15 Top shareh oldens in thirty large British companies
(1942) 62
16 .Identity of top shareholders in thirty large British
companies (1942) 63
17 Holdings by the top twenty shareholders in English
companies (1936, 1951) 64
10 Tables
18 Board representation in the top 120 British companies
(1954, 1966) 65
19 Beneficial share-ownership in British companies
(1963-75) 66
20 Major shareholders in the largest British non-Hnancial
companies (1975) 67
21 Major shareholders in the largest Scottish companies
(1973) 68
22 Strategic control in the 200 largest French industrial
companies (1971) 70
23 Strategic control in forty-one large Belgian non-financial
companies (1972) 71
24 Strategic control in Australian and Canadian companies
(1955 and 1960) 72
25 Ownership of US company shares (1922-59) 77
26 Ownership of UK company shares (1963-75) 78
27 Strategic control in the 200 largest member banks,
USA (1962) , 79
28 Inter-bank shareholdings in the top ten US banks (1966) 80
29 Interlocking directorships in the top 200 US corporations
(1905-64) 84
30 Interlocking directorships in the top 250 US corporations
(1935-65) 86
31 Multiple directors in large companies: USA and UK
(1936-7) 90
32 Interlocking directorships in Canadian industrial
companies (1951, 1972) 94
33 Management holdings in the top 200 US corporations
(1939) 116
34 Directors' holdings in 250 large US industrials (1960) 117
35 Directors' holdings in 233 large British companies (1951) 117
36 Directors' holdings in the top seventy-live British
companies (1971) 118
37 Millionaires with business interests in the 282 largest
Swedish companies (1963) 121
38 Interlocking directorships in Norwegian business
organizations (1967) 122
39 Educational background of British commercial bank
directors (1939-70) 128
40 State expenditure as a percentage of GDP (1972) 147
41 Foreign investment in Canada (1900-64) 161
Tables 11
42 US direct foreign investment (1929-68) 161
43 Foreign investment in Canada by sector (1926-62) 163
44 Ownership status of foreign subsidiaries in industrial
economies (1970) 166
45 Financial centres of multinational subsidiaries (1969) 169
46 Trends in the devel opment of industrial capitalism 174