Citadels of privilege

The rise of LLCs, LPs and the perpetuation of elite power in America

Bibliographic Data

ID2159803
AuthorsMatthew Soener (0000-0002-9261-9622, Matthew Soener (corresponding author), Sciences Po – MaxPo and OSC, Paris, France.), Michael Nau (The Ohio State University)
Year2019
Volume48
Issue3
Pages399-425
Publication date2019-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomy and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03085147.2019.1626629
OpenAlexW2976741628
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited34

Corporations are typically identified as the primary organization for producing and redistributing resources. They continue to be important but are not alone. Since the early 1990s, there has been a substantial rise in the number of limited liability companies (LLCs) and limited partnerships (LPs) in the United States. These flexible legal-organizational forms combine the benefits of traditional corporations but with less public accountability and lower taxation rates. They therefore give elites reprieve from the New Deal era regulations placed on corporations. We bring these organizations to light by historicizing their emergence and document key trends around social inequality. Technocratic elites constructed these organizations from legal bricolage and they now contribute significantly to American capital accumulation. Moreover, the top 1 per cent owns the majority of LLC and LP assets – a group that is overwhelmingly white and male. Far from being neutral organizations, they reinforce the interests of dominant social groups

Accountability · Business · Economics · Elite · General partnership · Limited liability · Limited partnership · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Privilege (computing · Technocracy · Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Political Economy and Marxism · Law · Public Administration

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