Presenter(s): David Capelle
Faculty Mentor(s): Ryan Light & Michael Dreiling
Poster 148
Session: Social Sciences & Humanities
The pharmaceutical industry holds a prominent position in the American political sphere. The degree and persistence of political mobilization among pharmaceutical firms warrants investigation into the conditions which account for patterns in their political behavior. This study aims to assess how pharmaceutical firms’ embeddedness in inter-organizational networks is associated with levels of political activism and political cohesion in the 2015-2016 election cycle. Inter-organizational networks are comprised of firm-to-firm board of director interlocks and membership in prominent policy-planning groups and trade associations. The maintenance of connections with outside companies and organizations represents opportunities for social cohesion and establishment of shared social perspectives among corporate elites, which is thought to precede unified political action among companies. Corporate political activity is measured through PAC donations and lobbying expenditures. By examining relationships between companies’ structural social network ties and political activity within a particularly influential industry, this analysis provides novel insight into the way power is exercised in an intra-industry setting. This analysis demonstrates that the political mobilization of the pharmaceutical industry is structured around positions in inter-firm networks, such that companies which maintain social ties to the broader corporate community through board interlocks and advocacy organizations engage themselves in politics more intensely. The results of this study inform positions regarding the conditions of class-cohesiveness among corporate entities, which possesses significant applications to the study of political science, economics, and sociology.