The Changing Nature of the American Corporate Elite, 1960-2009

SES-0922915密歇根大学Mark Mizruchi该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。从20世纪60年代到80年代，社会科学家对大公司在美国政治生活中的作用进行了多项研究。这项工作在20世纪90年代放缓为涓涓细流。在过去的50年里，美国公司的经营环境发生了重大变化，但我们对美国公司精英(美国最大公司的领导人)的特征和行为是否发生了变化，或者是否发生了变化，知之甚少。这项研究将考察从1960年到现在美国企业精英的变化，重点关注两个领域：企业领导人表达的意识形态随着时间的推移发生了多大程度的变化，以及大公司在意识形态和政治行为方面变得不那么有凝聚力了。为此，这项研究将侧重于企业在经济、政治和社会问题上的立场的内容；企业首席执行官的任期对企业政治和慈善行为的影响；以及企业领导人的多样性(就社会背景、性别和种族而言)对企业界政治和意识形态凝聚力水平的影响。研究中使用的数据将包括对2000多位公司首席执行官的公开演讲的分析；关于首席执行官的平均任期、他们的性别和种族以及其他人口统计特征的信息；以及公司政治和慈善捐款的数量和类型。这项研究将探索过去半个世纪以来企业精英在解决美国社会问题方面所发挥的作用。有证据表明，在最初的几十年里，美国企业精英对解决贫困、教育和就业机会等问题表现出高度的关切。一些观察人士表示，当代企业精英不那么注重解决这些问题。这项研究的数据将显示精英阶层对社会问题的反应随着时间的推移而变化的程度。这项研究将雇用几名学生(并为他们提供培训)，他们中的大多数是历史上在科学界代表性不足的群体的成员。它还将导致几个数据集的创建，这些数据集将提供给其他研究人员，包括PI的学生，作为出版和论文研究的来源。

SES-0922915Mark MizruchiUniversity of MichiganThis 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.