Corporate Elite

(noun)

A class of high-salaried stockholders, such as corporate CEOs, who do not necessarily have inherited privilege but have achieved high status through their careers.

Related Terms

Examples of Corporate Elite in the following topics:

  • Propaganda and the Mass Media

    • Mass media can be employed to manipulate populations to further the power elite's agenda.
    • The Power Elite is a 1956 book by sociologist C.
    • Wright Mills, in which Mills calls attention to the interwoven interests of the leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of society and suggests that the ordinary citizen is a relatively powerless subject of manipulation by those entities.
    • This allows the "debate" to continue, when in reality there is firm scientific consensus, in turn allowing those corporations to continue profiting off human behavior that in reality harms the environment.

  • Politics

    • The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions.
    • Elite or managerial theory is sometimes called a state-centered approach.
    • Through positions in corporations, corporate boards, and policy-planning networks, members of the "elite" are able to exert significant power over the policy decisions of corporations and governments.

  • Types of Corporations

    • C corporation refers to any corporation that, under United States federal income tax law, is taxed separately from its owners .
    • A C corporation is distinguished from an S corporation, which generally is not taxed separately.
    • S corporations are merely corporations that elect to pass corporate income, losses, deductions, and credit through to their shareholders for federal tax purposes.
    • Like a C corporation, an S corporation is generally a corporation under the law of the state in which the entity is organized.
    • Must be an eligible entity (a domestic corporation, or a limited liability company which has elected to be taxed as a corporation).

  • Pros and Cons of a Corporation

    • The corporation is one type of business structure.
    • Similarly, the corporation does not cease to exist with the death of shareholders, directors, or officers of the corporation.
    • Another benefit of the corporate structure is that, in the United States, corporations are generally taxed at a lower rate than are individuals.
    • S corporations are merely corporations that elect to pass corporate income, losses, deductions, and credit through to their shareholders for federal tax purposes.
    • Also, certain corporate penalty taxes (e.g., accumulated earnings tax, personal holding company tax) and the alternative minimum tax do not apply to an S corporation.

  • Bibliography

    • "Elite social circles" Chapter 12 in Burt and Minor (eds).
    • "Market Networks and Corporate Behavior" American Journal of Sociology. 96: 589-625.
    • Interlocks, PACs, and Corporate Conservatism.
    • Change in a Regional Corporate Network.
    • Similarity of Political Behavior among American Corporations.

  • S-Corporations (S-Corps)

    • S corporations elect to pass corporate income, losses, deductions, and credit through to their shareholders for federal tax purposes.
    • Like a C corporation, an S corporation is generally subject to the laws of the state in which it is organized.
    • In order to be eligible for S corporation status, a corporation must meet certain requirements:
    • Be an eligible entity (a domestic corporation, or a limited liability company which has elected to be taxed as a corporation)
    • However, certain trusts, estates, and tax-exempt corporations, notably 501(c)(3) corporations, are permitted to be shareholders.

  • Corporations and Corporate Power

    • Corporations have powerful legal rights, and some have revenues that exceed the revenues of sovereign nations.
    • Once incorporated, a corporation has artificial personhood everywhere it operates, until the corporation is dissolved.
    • A multinational corporation (MNC) is a corporation that either manages production or delivers services in more than one country .
    • Anti-corporate advocates express the commonly held view that corporations answer only to shareholders, and give little consideration to human rights, environmental concerns, or other cultural issues.
    • Multinational corporations are important factors in the processes of globalization .

  • Corporate Taxes

    • Corporate taxes are especially complicated because of the inherent complexities of corporations themselves.
    • Corporate taxation differs depending upon the legal form of the corporation.
    • A C corporation refers to any corporation that is taxed separately from its owners.
    • Owners of C corporations are personally protected from any liability of the company - an idea known as the corporate veil.
    • Shareholders generally cannot include corporations or partnerships (certain trusts, estates and tax-exempt corporations are permitted).

  • Sculpture

    • Elites in many northern city-states including Venice, Genoa and Pisa became wealthy through maritime trade.

  • The Communist Economic System

    • In reality, however, attempts to establish communism have ended up creating state-driven authoritarian economies and regimes which benefit single party political élite who are not accountable to the people or community.
    • Most interpretations or attempts to establish communism have ended up creating state-driven authoritarian economies and regimes which benefit single party political élite who are not accountable to the people at all.