Hegemonic Tie, Diversification and Influence of Economic Elites

Abstract

This paper analyzes the sociological literature on the role of the big businessmen in Argentine economic and political crises, initially referred to the post-Peronist period, until the seventies of the last century, but whose visions and conclusions have subsequently been extended, applying to other periods and crises. It identifies in this literature two theses: that of the “inhibitory diversification”, that would explain the privilege of liquid capital and links it with recurring problems to increase productivity, particularly in industry, and that of the “hegemonic tie”, which postulates the alleged irresolution of the conflict between two social blocs, a traditional or oligarchic one, organized around the old dominant agricultural-based class, and a modern one, organized around the industrialist market, trade unions and Peronism. The article criticizes both theses and emphasizes the difficulty in identifying collective business actors, their strategies and objectives, in the period considered, and inparticular for the domestic businesselite, offering alternativeexplanations to those of the mentioned theses on theentrepreneurialrole both in cycles ofeconomic instability and in political crises.It concludes with a discussion about the changes observed in this regard sincethe democratic transition and the advantages ofreplacing the analyzes on the relationship between businessmen and governments based on theories of social domination and hegemony with a pluralistic view of that issue.