The Inner Group of the American Capitalist Class

Abstract

The American capitalist class is hypothesized to differ along an axis of inner group centrality, defined as the span of influence over major business firms. Those who serve as corporate executives and sit on boards of directors of several large corporations are at the center of the inner group, while businessmen who oversee only a single large firm are on the periphery. One expects inner group members to be disproportionately recruited from among wealthy individuals with large corporate assets and executives employed in financial institutions. It is hypothesized that, compared with other capitalist class members, inner group members will tend to have 1) stronger internal social cohesion, 2) greater influence on public and private decision-making bodies, and 3) a more unified political consciousness and one more oriented toward general class interests. Drawing on a subset of businessmen (1,307) responding to a 1968 national probability survey of college and university trustees, support is found for the prediction that the inner group, recruited from the wealthy and financial institutions, is relatively cohesive and influential. However, the results contradict the prediction on political consciousness, with inner group ideology differing little from that of the remainder of the class. It is suggested that the inner group may play a limited role in unifying and controlling the business community but that it does not provide a means for the integration and promotion of general class interests.