This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
From the 1960s through the 1980s, social scientists conducted a number of studies of the role of large corporations in American political life. This work slowed to a trickle in the 1990s. The environment within which American corporations operate has undergone significant changes over the past five decades, yet we know little about how or whether the characteristics and behavior of the American corporate elite (the leaders of the largest American corporations) have changed in response. This study will examine changes in the American corporate elite from 1960 to the present, focusing on two areas: the extent to which the ideologies expressed by corporate leaders have changed over time, and the extent to which large corporations have become less cohesive in terms of their ideology and political behavior. To do this, the study will focus on the content of business positions on economic, political, and social issues; the effect of the length of tenure of corporate chief executives on firms' political and philanthropic behavior; and the effect of the diversity of corporate leaders (in terms of social background, gender, and race) on the level of political and ideological cohesion within the business community. Data used in the study will include analyses of more than 2,000 public speeches made by corporate chief executives; information on the average tenure of chief executives, their gender and race, and other demographic characteristics; and the amounts and types of corporate political and philanthropic contributions.
This study will explore the role that corporate elites have played in addressing societal problems in the United States over the past half-century. There is evidence that in earlier decades, members of the American corporate elite exhibited a high level of concern for addressing issues such as poverty, education, and employment opportunities. Some observers have suggested that contemporary corporate elites are less focused on solving these problems. The data from this study will show the extent to which elite responsiveness to societal problems has varied over time. The study will employ (and provide training for) several students, the majority of whom are members of groups historically underrepresented in the sciences. It also will lead to the creation of several data sets that will be made available to other researchers, including the PI's students, to use as a source for publication and dissertation research.
