The Ties That Bind: Organizational and Class Bases of Stability in a Corporate Interlock Network

Abstract

We use the interorganizational and intraclass perspectives to examine how hypothesized causes and consequences of interlocking influence one stage in the process by which the interlock network connecting large U.S. corporations is reproduced over time-the reconstitution of disrupted ties. The results of our analysis suggest: 1) that only two of the organizational and class interests associated with interlocking in previous cross-sectional studies operate in the reconstitution stage -the level of interindustry resource constraint between nonfinancial and financial firms and the membership of firms' directors in the same local capitalist class segment, 2) that the interorganizational linkages and intraclass bonds in which ties may become embedded and which they may facilitate are also important determinants of this stage, and 3) that the interorganizational and intraclass perspectives provide valid and interrelated explanations of interlocking, and thus should be integrated in future studies.