Business Associations, Sociology Of

Thomas Raiser

Sociologists often divide business associations into two categories: (1) associations whose aim is to generate economic value by producing or trading goods or services and to make a profit from those activities and (2) associations that without their own production nevertheless serve the economic interests of their members. The latter, representing certain branches of industry, have a political dimension aimed at the public, lobbying government agencies, analyzing and formulating the common interests of the branch, and informing the members and supporting their activities in certain cases. Usually organized as nonprofit corporations, some are big and influential, while others have a limited, often only local, relevance. Although they play an important role as intermediaries between the political and the economic systems in every democracy and free-market economy, very little is known about them, such as their typical size, methods of recruiting members, financing, internal organization, power structure, or decision-making processes. Since ...

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