Network Of Interlocking Directorates Research Articles

The Unfolding of the Interlocking Directorate Structure of the United States

An analysis of interindustry interlocking directorates for the period 1886-1905 reveals that centrality was the primary structural feature. Twelve randomly selected industries formed a structure shaped like a core with radiating spokes. The railroad, along with the telegraph and coal industries, formed the core. The other, peripheral industries at first interlocked only with the core, and only after the turn of the century substantially interlocked with each other. Banks were initially secondary to railroads, but increasingly played an integrative role. Two types of interlocks, those based on proprietary relations and those based on resource exchange, are seen to structure the system. The results offer a provisional baseline for studies of long-term change in the structure of the American interlocking directorate network. The analysis of interlocking directorates has