Instrumental Class Power and the Origin of Class-Based State Regulation in the U.S. Electric Utility Industry

Abstract

This paper analyzes the creation of state government-regulated electric utilities in the United States before 1915. Analyzing how class actors reactively mobilized power, created policy, and directly and indirectly influenced states to create a class-biased regulatory structure and undermine public ownership, I argue the need for a modified instrumentalist theory of the state, which I call the theory of instrumental class power. The study demonstrates that class power: (1) can be created outside of the state; (2) is a reaction to class challenge and not necessarily an attempt to rationalize the economy; and (3) can be exercised at various levels of the U.S. federalist state system.