This book, an update of the author’s 1967 classic work, documents the existence of a small, wealthy, socially cohesive upper class in America, and shows that the upper class is vastly over-represented in the top echelons of government, business, and other institutions. The sections of a chapter summarized here argues that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, members of the upper class control many of the largest corporations and banks. Other sections of the chapter, omitted from this summary, discuss other aspects of the sociology of the upper class, including the role of upper-class women (who are rarely involved in business), and patterns of intermarriage and intergenerational persistence of social status. It is widely believed that direct control of corporations by individual owners has been virtually eliminated by the dispersal of stock ownership. There is often said to be a separation of ownership and control in the modern corporate economy. A four-part response to this popular view, presented here, shows that (1) members of the upper class own almost half of all privately held corporate stock in the United States; (2) many large stockholding families in the upper class continue to be involved in the direction of major corporations … ; (3) members of the upper class are disproportionately represented on the boards of large corporations … ; and (4) the professional managers of middle-level origins are assimilated into the upper class both socially and economically and share the values of upper-class owners.
