Transnational Capitalism and Class Formation

Abstract

Within studies of global capitalism class formation is analyzed from two different viewpoints: network theory and political economy. The principal factor determining the emergence of a transnational capitalist class (TCC) is the relations of production. The questions of how production and labor are organized, and how and by whom value is expropriated are primary and point to a hegemonic and cohesive TCC. Network theory, while helpful in creating a more complex picture, stresses sociological perceptions of class that underestimate transnational class formation.