Socializing capital : the rise of the large industrial corporation in America / William G. Roy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roy, William G., 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Big business--United States--History.

Big business.

Corporations--United States--Finance--History.

Corporations.

Industrial policy--United States--History.

Industrial policy.

Capitalism--United States--History.

Capitalism.

Social structure--United States--History.

Social structure.

Rich people--United States--History.

Rich people.

Power (Social sciences)--United States--History.

Power (Social sciences).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (355 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ever since Adolph Berle and Gardiner Means wrote their classic 1932 analysis of the American corporation, The Modern Corporation and Private Property, social scientists have been intrigued and challenged by the evolution of this crucial part of American social and economic life. Here William Roy conducts a historical inquiry into the rise of the large publicly traded American corporation. Departing from the received wisdom, which sees the big, vertically integrated corporation as the result of technological development and market growth that required greater efficiency in larger scale firms, Roy focuses on political, social, and institutional processes governed by the dynamics of power. The author shows how the corporation started as a quasi-public device used by governments to create and administer public services like turnpikes and canals and then how it germinated within a system of stock markets, brokerage houses, and investment banks into a mechanism for the organization of railroads. Finally, and most particularly, he analyzes its flowering into the realm of manufacturing, when at the turn of this century, many of the same giants that still dominate the American economic landscape were created. Thus, the corporation altered manufacturing entities so that they were each owned by many people instead of by single individuals as had previously been the case.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Figures

Tables

Preface

CHAPTER ONE. Introduction

CHAPTER TWO. A Quantitative Test of Efficiency Theory

CHAPTER THREE. The Corporation as Public and Private Enterprise

CHAPTER FOUR. Railroads: The Corporation's Institutional Wellspring

CHAPTER FIVE. Auxiliary Institutions: The Stock Market, Investment Banking, and Brokers

CHAPTER SIX. Statutory Corporate Law, 1880-1913

CHAPTER SEVEN. Prelude to a Revolution

CHAPTER EIGHT. American Industry Incorporates

CHAPTER NINE. Conclusion: A Political Sociology of the Large Corporation

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [301]-317) and index.

ISBN:

9786612753237

9781400806904

1400806909

9781400822270

1400822270

9781282753235

1282753231

9781400813247

1400813247

OCLC:

51566888