ABSTRACT
The theoretical debates which were reviewed in the previous chapter centred around the social transformations which are presumed to follow from the emergence of the joint stock company. In order to pursue the research problems generated in those debates it is necessary to establish a conceptual framework which can be used to interpret the available evidence. No such framework can be theoretically neutral, but it is possible to construct a framework which does not contradict the basic tenets of the specific theories under consideration. Though they may differ as to whether ‘management control’ is the most appropriate description of the largest enterprises in the world today, the protagonists should be able to agree on what is meant by the concept of ‘management control’. In fact it can be shown that Marxist writers such as Renner and Hilferding have a similar view of corporate capital to liberal writers such as Berle and Means, and that this is true also of a range of other concepts which they and their followers have formulated. Where they differ, of course, is in their application of these concepts in their interpretations of the development of industrial capitalism; and these differences are expressed in the polarization between the theory of capitalist society and the theory of industrial society. If these rival theories are to be transcended once and for all, it is necessary that the alternative interpretation which has been proposed should be constructed from concepts which are meaningful to supporters of the moribund theories. Only in this way can fruitful discussion take place and the basis be laid for future empirical research.
