Corporations, Classes and Capitalism

First published in 1985, Corporations, Classes and Capitalism raises some crucial questions – how important are large multinational companies? Who really controls the economy? Is government policy able to influence business activities? John Scott examines the transformation of industrial property over the last hundred years and, through the use of extensive empirical data, relates this transformation to the actual structure of control over business decision-making. The book considers the rival theories of industrial society and capitalist society and argues that neither provides a satisfactory account of the development of industrial capitalism. Building on these theories, and the critical debates they have generated, John Scott develops an alternative model of corporate control – control through a constellation of interests. He argues that this new form of impersonal possession has emerged in Britian, America, Australia and Canada but is not so strongly developed in other economies. This book will be of interest to students of sociology, political science, and economics.