Transnational Capitalist Class in the Global Financial Crisis: A Discussion with Leslie Sklair

Sprague, Jeb

doi:10.1080/14747730903298835

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Theorists of the global school of capitalism (GSC) argue that there has been a qualitatively new twenty-first century transnational capitalism in the process of emerging (Carroll 2010, Dicken 2007, Harris 2012:46, Robinson 2014:4, Sklair 2005, Sprague 2009, Strauna 2012. The flip side of this is that there is evidence to show that financialisation has brought new lows to the polarization of class, exploitation and domination which have intensified with an accentuated north south dimension (Carroll 2010:10, 37, Robinson 2014.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

We rule the world: an emerging global class fraction?

Murray

2015

Foresight

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Who rules the world? This paper suggests that the top 0.1 per cent do. They are a heterogeneous class fraction that own and/or control the circuit of capital at different times, in different global locations, for different rewards, with different workforces and regulations. Their power base is this ownership and control of capital and not power from their individual charisma, authority or influence (though these may follow). This class power is hegemonic and at capitalism's core. The methods used are triangulated between statistical data on the top 0.1 and .01 per cent, secondary sources -newspapers and books -and original collated data from the Bureau Van Dyk database. From this the article looks at (1) Who the emerging global ruling class are? (2) What their means are in the class struggle? and (3) What are the likely consequences for this unequal power distribution for the future of global society? Title: We rule the world: an emerging global class fraction? Purpose: To investigate who rules the world? The hypothesis is that it is the .1% of owners and controllers of capital. Methodology/approach: Dyk and The World Top Incomes database -to look at distributions of income and wealth (stock ownership). This is supplemented with secondary source analysis and with some interviews. Findings: The top point one per centers, the wealthy, those on the top incomes and transnational capitalist class are all distinct but overlapping categories that describe the (white) men and (few) women who hold power through their ownership and/or control of capital, and who are thereby directly or indirectly able to act hegemonic-ally, on an emerging global basis.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

We rule the world: an emerging global class fraction?

Murray

2015

Foresight

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“…Robinson (2001), as wefl as others such Robyn Magalit Rodriguez (2010), Kanishka Jayasuriya (1999), and Jeb Sprague (2010Sprague ( , 2012, have written more on this phenomena. Geographer Peter Dicken (2007) provides useful explanations of the strategies and tactics that are carried out through TNCs and states in seeking advantages in the global market: "location toumaments", "competitive bidding", "incentivized tax stmctures", where at times "investment capital may be provided by [a] host govemment", with corporate taxes reduced, or as TNCs seek to exploit national differences between states, etc.…”

Section: Transnational Companies and The State In The "North" And "Somentioning

confidence: 91%

“…In addition, many huge private companies like Cargill and others are not included in G2000 public list.^ The real data corresponding to the origins or percentages of national and foreign investors among the Forbes 2000 firms is hard to find accurately. However, since we are limited by the data provided, let Robinson's Marxian-inspired theory of a TCC differs from Sklair's more eclectic theory of a TCC (Sprague 2009). * Importantly, the hereditary aspect of wealth continues on in the age of capitalist globalization, for example, with the Cargill company owned primarily by the same family for over 140 years.…”

Section: Corporation Domiciles and How Capital Goes Transnationalmentioning

confidence: 96%

Global Capitalism and “North-South” Unevenness: In Light of Ranking, Statistical Correlations, and Profits from the Forbes’ Worldwide List of 2000 Top Firms

Castillo-Mussot

Sprague

García

2013

Perspect Global Dev Technol

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While a 'north-south divide' in world capitalism has been pointed to for many years, in this article we examine how this unevenness condnues in today's epoch of capitalist globalizadon. To examine this phenomenon, we analyze a recent Forbes Magazine annual ranking of the leading 2000 companies in the world (G2000), by grouping or 'boxing' these companies by their 62 domiciles to calculate aggregated sales, profits, assets and market value and correladng these quanddes with the GDP of the corresponding domicile. This is an approximadon to reality, since the variety of transnadonal capital and associated global processes make it nowadays problemadc to assign nadonal labels to capital. Regardless of where the whole business circuit takes place, we foimd that the GDP of each country is directly proportional, more or less, to the economic strength of all G2000 topftrms based or registered in that country. These proportionalities tend to hover around a certain level globally, yet the correladon is lower for the 'global south' (as some describe it). We can also idendfy important regional variadons of rados such as profits/sales. Other rados could also be easily calculated fi-om our results. Together these findings help lead to a more nuanced understanding of transnadonal corporadons (TNCs), but also suggest more basicaUy, for instance, that the 'global north' remains to some degree more penetrated by TNCs (of the G2000).

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“…For an interesting attempt to connect these crises in terms of radical geography, see Leichenko and O'Brien (2007). 3 For an application of this theoretical framework to the 'present crisis', see my interview with Jeb Sprague (Sprague, 2009). However, the present crisis appears to be passing (summer 2009) and the main lesson I draw from it is that the need to start thinking seriously about alternative, non-capitalist, progressive forms of globalization is even more urgent than before.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 98%

The Emancipatory Potential of Generic Globalization

Sklair

2009

Globalizations

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The debate around globalization is entering a new and more mature phase reflected in the fact that it is now generally accepted that we live in an era of globalization. However, the concept is used in a bewildering variety of ways. Here I attempt to deconstruct it by distinguishing three modes of globalization in theory and practice, namely: generic, capitalist, and alternative globalizations. My argument is that globalization in a generic sense is too often confused with its dominant actually existing type, capitalist globalization. I define generic globalization in terms of (a) the electronic revolution; (b) postcolonialisms; (c) the subsequent creation of transnational social spaces; and (d) qualitatively new forms of cosmopolitanism. Capitalist globalization undermines the emancipatory potential of the four elements of generic globalization, resulting in what are termed here a new type of class polarization crisis and the crisis of ecological unsustainability. The article concludes with an attempt to sketch the main principles of a post-capitalist alternative form of democratic socialist globalization, based on networks of sustainable consumer-producer cooperatives operating at all appropriate social and geographical scales.El debate sobre la globalización está entrando en una fase nueva y más madura, reflejada en el hecho de que ahora generalmente se acepta que vivimos en una era de globalización. Sin embargo, el concepto se usa en una variedad de formas confusas. Por este medio, trato de deconstruirlo, mediante la distinción de tres modos de globalización en teoría y en práctica, principalmente: globalizaciones genéricas, capitalistas y alternas. Mi argumento es que la globalización en un sentido genérico, se confunde frecuentemente con el tipo dominante de globalización que existe actualmente, la globalización capitalista. Yo defino la globalización genérica en términos de (a) revolución electrónica; (b) poscolonialismo; (c) la creación subsecuente de espacios sociales trasnacionales; y (d) nuevas formas cualitativas de cosmopolitismo. La globalización capitalista obstaculiza el potencial emancipador de los cuatro elementos de la globalización genérica, resultando en lo que hemos denominado aquí, un nuevo tipo de crisis de polarización de clases y la crisis de insostenibilidad ecológica. El artículo concluye con un intento de esbozar los principios fundamentales de una forma alterna poscapitalista de globalización democrática socialista, en base a redes de cooperativas de consumidor-productor sostenibles que operan a todos los niveles sociales y geográficos apropiados.

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Transnational Capitalist Class in the Global Financial Crisis: A Discussion with Leslie Sklair

Cited by 11 publications

References 14 publications

We rule the world: an emerging global class fraction?

We rule the world: an emerging global class fraction?

Global Capitalism and “North-South” Unevenness: In Light of Ranking, Statistical Correlations, and Profits from the Forbes’ Worldwide List of 2000 Top Firms

The Emancipatory Potential of Generic Globalization

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