Canada’s Carbon-Capital Elite: A Tangled Web of Corporate Power

Authors

  • Bill Carroll University of Victoria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/cjs28258

Keywords:

Corporations, Corporate elites, Carbon capitalism, Interlocking directorates, Corporate networks

Abstract

This article maps the organization of corporate power within Canada’s carbon-capital elite. It charts the elite’s accumulation base, its internal structure as a network of interlocking directorates and its ties to the financial sector and other segments of corporate capital – national and transnational. The analysis identifies a tightly-knit, local network of mid-sized carbon-capital firms linked into the broader power structure largely through mediating relations that involve the largest carbon-capital corporations. The architecture of corporate power resembles an entrenched oligarchy; however, both policy sociology and public sociology can contribute toward checking its power through effective regulation while facilitating discussion of energy democracy as a transformative alternative.

Author Biography

Bill Carroll, University of Victoria

Sociology Professor

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Published

2017-09-29

Issue

Vol. 42 No. 3 (2017)

Section

Articles

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