y After reading Chapter VII students should understand

1. The defining characteristics of the corporate class

2. The problems inherent in the notion that there is an upper class which rules America and the main arguments of its critics

3. The managerial control thesis

4. The bases for the existence of enormous economic and political concentration of power

5. The concepts of direct and indirect interlocking directorships, and basic statistics regarding the extent of interlocking directorships

6. The extent and implications of the globalization of corporate power

7. The positive social, political and economic effects of corporations

8. The negative social, political and economic effects of corporations

9. The three main theories about the existence and effects of the corporate class: conflict or critical elite, functionalist, and pluralist

(adapted from Instructor's Manual prepared by Richard A. Schaffer)

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