| Abstrakt: |
This paper documents the multiple dimensions of the small world of the corporate elite between 1962 and 1995. After identifying the corporations that define the members of the corporate elite in four time periods (1962, 1973, 1983 and 1995), the initial analysis examines the interpersonal affiliations constituting the "small world" of these corporate directors. The next three sections of the paper define and document additional sources of social cohesion formed by the corporate elite's participation in 12 policy planning organizations, 25 non-profit foundations, roughly 50 major cultural institutions across the country. In each section, the analyses address the extent to which levels of corporate interlocking among the directors are associated with levels of inter-organizational ties. The final section integrates all sources of social ties to describe how participation in policy planning, non-profit foundations and cultural institutions further contracts the "small world" of the corporate elite. The results show that these non-corporate affiliations increase the average number of unique ties and decrease the average geodesic distances among the directors in all four time periods. However, the contributions of each of these supplemental social affiliations change over time with a decline in the roles of cultural ties and an increase in the importance of participation in policy planning organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
