Money Talks: Corporate Pacs and Political Influence

by Dan Clawson

Book Overview

It is generally agreed that political action committees (PACs) have transformed the US system of campaign finance. Based on interviews with officials from every major kind of PAC, this is a behind-the-scenes look at what PACs want from Congress and how they go about getting it.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 046502680X
• ISBN13: 9780465026807
• Release Date: October 1992
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 288 Pages

Customer Reviews

A great study on corporate influence in the political proces

A sociological study of corporate PACs (Political Action Committees) which draws on anthropological work by Marcel Mauss concerning gift exchange (see The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies). Interestingly, campaign contributions act more like "gifts" than bribes, strengthening social networks, and creating obligations. It would seem that 90% of the legislation that corporations seek to pass invokes extremely narrow tax relief (covering only that corporation), though the wording is masked as it is very difficult to determine who the beneficiaries are. Also, this work broadly outlines what would be minimally acceptable for campaign finance reform- and the various bills that have been surfacing in Congress in the past 12 months don't even come close.