Technique for Analyzing Overlapping Memberships

Sociologists study the structure or pattern of relationships among individuals and among groups. The sharing of common members is an important relationship, as is the pattern of overlapping members. I will first discuss few instances of sociological concern with the pattern of overlapping memberships in order to clarify the problems that this chapter will solve. The pattern of interlocking directorates among business organizations can give information about the power centralization in a society. Lieberson (1971) suggests that an analysis of the pattern of interlocking directorates among the largest business organizations sheds light on whether the power-elite view or the pluralist view of American society is the more accurate. Lieberson confines himself to a few selected facts (for instance, that the boards of the seven largest New York City banks in 1965 included officials from 51 of the largest 500 industrial companies). Although suggesting the value of a thorough analysis of interlocking directorates, Lieberson does not attempt to provide it.