Corporate Elites and American Politics

The book begins by introducing the Silicon Valley 150+, the 175 biggest public and private firms in Silicon Valley, and discusses the intent of the book: to examine the political engagement of those individuals who founded and are CEOs of the SV150+ firms. This chapter introduces the main themes of the book, positioning the book against literatures covering business lobbying, political donations by firms, philanthropy and public policy, and the formation of new advocacy organizations. The chapter also includes three important lists: (1) the SV150+ firm list—the list of Silicon Valley firms the book studies; (2) the SV150+ CEO list—the list of CEOs the book studies; and (3) the SV150+ founder list—the list of founders the book studies. The chapter concludes with an overview of the chapters to come.

Conclusion

Chapter 7 puts the book’s findings into context by exploring what they have to teach us about the role of the new corporate elite in American politics. The chapter outlines the approach taken in the book—namely, to document the engagement of Silicon Valley corporate elites through their firms, as individuals, and via associative forms. The chapter reviews the conclusions of the study, including the following: (1) the Silicon Valley corporate landscape is diverse when it comes to political engagement; (2) there is a top tier among the Silicon Valley firms and elites when it comes to expenditures on lobbying and elections; (3) most elites skew liberal even if their firms do not, and the philanthropic spending of elites supports a new liberal agenda. The chapter concludes by discussing limitations of this project and opportunities for future work.

Direct Advocacy by “Super Citizens”

Chapter 4 explores the public pronouncements of SV150+ founders and CEOs. It does this initially by examining how publicly visible our CEOs and founders are. We find that by dint of their public statements, some CEOs and founders are far more publicly visible than others. We ask: Who is most visible? And why are they most visible? From here, Chapter 4 examines the nature and extent of a new form of corporate leader engagement in politics—taking politics public by posting on social media. Examining Twitter posts of SV150+ CEOs and founders specifically, we ask: When CEOs and founders engage politically via social media, do they engage the same issues that their companies do? Or do they “do their own thing,” focusing on issues of interest to them personally? Are CEO and founder tweets partisan and ideological? If so, which way do CEOs and founders lean?

Silicon Valley Firms in American Politics

Chapter 2 examines the firm-level form of corporate elite political engagement. It asks: Just how active are Silicon Valley companies in American (mostly national) politics? And what issues do they work on? The answers to these questions provide a context for founder and CEO activities (explored in later chapters). To be sure, these are important questions in and of themselves. But we ask them primarily to gather information that will allow us to address other questions about the behavior of Silicon Valley corporate elites. Among these questions are: Do politically active leaders come from politically active companies? Do Silicon Valley corporate leaders act like their companies—for example, do they address the same issues? Are corporate leaders simply extensions of the companies they run, or are they “free agents” who inject their own, personal views into the political process? Or are they a mixture of both of these? Chapter 2 presents data that help address these questions and others.

Associative Action

Chapter 6 turns to another form of associative leader engagement. Specifically, Chapter 6 examines the rise of organizations founded by SV150+ CEOs and founders. Special attention is paid to a new organizational form: the corporate social advocacy organization (CSAO), which we define as a political organization, founded directly by corporate elites, that pursues a narrow issue or public interest policy agenda, and seeks to involve the general public in its advocacy work (as members or supporters). The chapter uncovers nineteen groups founded by SV150+ elites, among them several CSAOs. Chapter 6 examines where these groups came from, what they do, and how they connect with other forms of SV150+ political activity.

Silicon Valley Leaders in Federal Elections

Chapter 3 examines one individual form of corporate elite political engagement—campaign giving. The chapter undertakes an in-depth look at the itemized federal campaign contributions of Silicon Valley CEOs and founders during the 2015–2016 federal election cycle. Relying upon publicly available Federal Election Commission data on individual contributions, the chapter answers questions including: How prevalent is campaign giving among the corporate elites on our SV150+ CEO and founder lists? Do these corporate elites give more or less than other sets of corporate elites? In their giving, are SV150+ CEOs and founders as Democratic as previous studies suggest they are? Are they indeed a new financial constituency of the Democratic Party? Are Silicon Valley corporate elites simply furthering their firms’ interests when they give, or are they “free agents” following their own, personal preferences?

The New Entrepreneurs and Organizational Advocacy

Chapter 5 turns toward one associative aspect of corporate elite political engagement. Specifically, it examines how SV150+ CEOs and founders use private foundations to further their philanthropic interests. What proportion of SV150+ corporate elites acts philanthropically through private foundations? What issues do their foundations support? Are there any discernible patterns to SV150+ elite foundation giving? And how often does SV150+ philanthropic giving wander into political territory? Do private foundations associated with our CEOs and founders support political organizations to any substantial extent? And if they do, what types of organizations working on what types of issues do they support? The data presented in Chapter 5 connect nicely with ongoing work on the role of wealthy elites in addressing societal problems and steering social and political change.