Are individuals with noble titles

more likely to be a part

of the transnational corporate elite?

Diliara Valeeva

KU Leuven

Networks 2021: A Joint Sunbelt and NetSci Conference

5-10 July, 2021

Forbes, 23 March 2021

Modern aristocracy obtains

high societal positions

within nation-states

Nobility has higher changes of entering corporate elite

By utilizing specific forms of capital, adapted to modern realities

(Hartmann and Kopp, 2001; Korom and Dronkers, 2009; Gonzalez, 2019)

Transnationalization of corporate ownership and elite networks

International educational and career patterns

Cosmopolitan capital

(Buhlman et al., 2013; Heemskerk et al., 2016; Prieur and Savage, 2013)

Are individuals with noble titles

have positional privilege

on obtaining transnational positions?

Hypothesis

Individuals with noble titles

are more likely to obtain

transnational corporate elite positions

in comparison with individuals

without noble titles

Data

No global dataset of noble titles

Automatic and manual coding

5 837 individuals with noble titles

(0.028% of the sample)

Network of corporate aristocracy

Case 1: European

dynasties

Faber-Castell family

Rotschild family

First Abu Dhabi Bank

Case 2: Middle Eastern aristocracy

Conclusion

Nobility has positional privilege not only within national corporate elite networks, but also globally

Nobility from different countries/regions has distinct patterns of entering the transnational corporate world

These patterns are determined by a diversity of capitals

The transnational corporate elite is likely to follow reproduction patterns, existing in national contexts