Social Class and a Division of Labor within the Corporate Elite: a Note on Class,Interlocking, and Executive Committee Membership of Directors of U. S. Industrial Firms*

Upper-class directors of major industrial companies are directors of more corporations than are the non-upper-class directors, but they are less likely to serve on executive committees of corporate boards. This may indicate that there is a class-based division of labor in which the upper-class directors are more concerned with inter-organizational relationships and with the functioning of the economy as a whole, and that non-upper-class directors are concerned with day-to-day operations of individual companies.