Steel and the Community of Power: A Case Study of a Dominant Corporation

Abstract

<p>"Steel and the Community of Power" is an in-depth· case study of a dominant Canadian corporation, The Steel Company of Canada Limited (Stelco) using class-and-power analysis, focusing on power-holders and the context in which they exercise corporate power. Historical and steel-industry contexts form the backdrop for the study, which deals with data on the corporation's development, inter-corporate relations and boards of directors since the merger of 1910 creating Stelco. The corporation was found to be a product of historical forces arising out of mercantile and financial pursuits of the Canadian indigenous elite and developments such as railways which are related to their traditional areas of dominance. Stelco was found to be implicated in a network of connections involving dominant Canadian and foreign corporations and in the "continentalist" logic of Canadian-American interpenetration for the exploitation of natural resources. Stelco's board was found to be an important meeting place for important configurations of Canadian indigenous elite power.</p>