Economic Sources of Corporate Political Consenses: An Examination of Interindustry Relations

Abstract

This paper examines the sources of political consensus between major industries in the American economy, employing data on campaign contributions of corporate political action committees in the 1980 Congressional elections. Drawing on elements of the resource dependence and social class models of intercorpoorate relations, we examine the effects of volume of transactions between industries, the economic leverage of one industry over another, and interlocking directorates, on the similarity of contributions between dyads created by fourteen major industries. Volume of transactions is negatively related to consensus, as are direct interindustry officer interlocks. However, economic leverage between industries is associated with increased consensus, suggesting the importance of this variable as a source of conflict resolution within the business community.