Challenging standard dependency theory, William Carroll argues fromempirical evidence that Canada's financial-industrial elite havemaintained and consolidated their competitive position at the centre ofan inter-corporate network. Corporate Power and CanadianCapitalism thus acknowledges the unusually high degree to whichcapital is concentrated in a relatively few giant corporations inCanada, but it denies that these commercial interests are subordinatedto American corporate capital.
To test the validity of this new perspective on the transformationof indigenous capitalists into a national bourgeoisie, Carroll tracesthe accumulation of capital in the largest Canadian corporations andthe institutional relations that have existed among the same firmssince World War II. Instead of selling out to foreign capital, Canadianfirms have in fact become increasingly interlocked, andCanadian-controlled firms have been and continue to be the focus ofboth the industrial and financial sectors, with foreign-controlledcompanies occupying decidedly peripheral positions.
From this interpretative position, Canada's development is seenas markedly similar to that of other advanced capitalist countries,culminating in consolidation of control under an elite accompanied bothby penetration of foreign economies by domestic financial capitalistsand a concomitant penetration of the domestic economy by foreigncapital.
The book is an excellent critical assessment of Canadian dependency theory - rethinking of Canadian dependency and providing empirical data in support of the renewed conceptualization ... This solid empirical work should be of great interest to various social scientists including sociologists.
The strength of this book lies in elaborating the internal organisation and processes of capitalist development within Canada from a perspective that looks outside it, if not in terms of dependency and underdevelopment. It is a most valuable contribution.
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. The Thesis of Canadian Dependency
2. Rethinking Canadian Dependency
3. Monopoly Capitalism and Canadian Finance Capital
4. The Accumulation of Monopoly Capital, 1946-1976
5. Patterns of Corporate Interlocking, 1946-1976
6. Continuity and Change in the Interlock Network, 1946-1976
7. The Consolidation of Canadian Finance Capital, 1946-1985
8. Conclusion: Canadian Capital in the Era of Imperialism
Appendix 1. Sampling, Measurement, and Data ManagementProcedures
Appendix 2. Sources of Data on Domestic and Foreign Ownership andControl
Appendix 3. Corporations in the "Top 100," 1946-1976
Notes
Bibliography
Index
