European Business Leaders. A Focus on the Upper Layers of the European Field Power

Abstract

In Euro-Clash, Neil Fligstein (2008) states that the constitution of a transnational capitalist class in Europe is not manifest, even though recent decades have been marked by the structuring of vast European markets. Following the insights of Hall and Soskice (2001), he stresses that globalized economic activities are compatible with a strong national anchorage with regard to ownership, governance or employment relations. In other words, increased trade and financial, market and economic integration does not automatically translate into social integration. Fligstein’s assumptions are all the more important as they break with a long-standing research tradition postulating the formation of a transnational capitalist class (Hymer, 1979) and conceptualize Europeanization as not only a mechanical byproduct of economic relations, but as a more complex social process.