1) The document argues that the transnational capitalist class (TCC), comprised of owners of transnational corporations, globalizing politicians and professionals, and consumerist elites, shapes the dominant discourse around globalization. 2) Specifically, the TCC promotes discourses of national competitiveness and sustainable development to further the interests of global capitalism and negate growing inequality and environmental crises. 3) By framing all social institutions in business terms and using metrics like benchmarking, the TCC exerts economic, political, and ideological control on a global scale.

1. The transnational capitalist class and
the discourse of globalization
By Leslie Sklair, 2000
Presented by Christina Vollbrecht

2. Capitalist Globalization
Global System Theory
Transnational Corporations Culture-ideology of Consumerism
Transnational Capitalist Class
Owners and Globalizing Globalizing Consumerist elites
Controllers of TNCs bureaucrats and professionals (merchants and
and their local politicians media)
affiliates
Units of Analysis: Transnational Practices (TNP) which cross state
boundaries but do not originate with state actors or agencies.

3. Purpose
• The paper sets to demonstrate that the dominant
forces of global capitalism are the dominant
forces in the contemporary global system.
• Here, the focus is on the transnational capitalist
class and how it has constructed a discourse of
globalization to further its interests.
• Its implications include the conclusion that
globalization is not a “western” ideology, but a
globalizing capitalist ideology.

4. Argument
Combinations of the TCC,
use
Discourses of national Discourses of sustainable
competiveness development
to further the interests of global capital.

5. THE TRANSNATIONAL CAPITALIST
CLASS (TCC)
• (i) owners and controllers of TNCs and their local
affiliates;
• (ii) globalizing bureaucrats and politicians;
• (iii) globalizing professionals;
• (iv) consumerist elites (merchants and media).
• They constitute a global power elite, dominant
class or inner circle in the sense that these terms
have been used to characterize the dominant
class structures of specific countries.

6. THE TRANSNATIONAL CAPITALIST
CLASS (TCC)
The TCC is transnational (or globalizing) in the following respects:
•(a) The economic interests of its members are increasingly globally
linked rather than exclusively local and national in origin.
•(b) The TCC seeks to exert economic control in the workplace, political
control in domestic, international and global politics, and culture-
ideology control in every-day life through specific forms of global
competitive and consumerist rhetoric and practice.
•(c) Members of the TCC have outward-oriented global rather than
inward-oriented local perspectives on most economic, political and
culture-ideology issues.
•(d) Members of the TCC tend to share similar life-styles, particularly
patterns of higher education, and consumption of luxury goods and
services.
•(e) Finally, members of the TCC seek to project images of themselves
as citizens of the world as well as of their places and/or countries of
birth.

7. TCC IN DEPTH: THE GLOBALIZING
POLITICIAN (the technopols)
• They support cosmopolitan ideas and meet
normal international professional standards,
• Sell sound economic policy in their own
countries,
• Political leaders active in remaking damaged
social and political systems,
• Choose freer markets over state intervention and
liable to favor democracy of pluralist polyarchy.
• Thus they understand that corporations expect
policy continuity to safeguard investments.

8. THE DISCOURSE OF CAPITALIST
GLOBALIZATION: COMPETITIVENESS
• The insertion of the nation-state into the global capitalist
system is facilitated by the transnational capitalist class
through the discourse of national competitiveness.
• The TCC achieves this through facilitating alliances of
globalizing politicians, globalizing professionals and the
corporate sector.
• Global capitalism succeeds by turning most spheres of
social life into businesses, by making social institutions—
such as schools, universities, prisons, hospitals, welfare
systems—more business-like.
• Various forms of benchmarking are used in most large
institutions to measure performance against actual
competitors or an ultimate target, zero defects, for
example.

9. THE DISCOURSE OF CAPITALIST
GLOBALIZATION: COMPETITIVENESS
The fractions of the Transnational Capitalist Class
Globalizing bureaucrats and
and Globalizing professionals
politicians
Create the discourse of
National Economic Competitiveness
Through
World Best Practices and Benchmarking
To support the capitalist interests of:
Commodification of all
Intense discipline on High standards to institutions related to the
the workforce reduce competition culture-ideology of
consumerism.

10. THE CORPORATE CAPTURE OF
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
“As the concept of sustainable development is further
defined, we believe it will begin to resemble our outline of an
economics for community.” (Daly and Cobb, p. 371)
•‘the Brundtland Report called on the cooperation of
industry ... the business community is willing to play a leading
role, and to take charge’.
•the idea of ‘sustainable growth’ had replaced the idea of
‘conservation’ and industry could get on with its job.
•Big business successfully recruited much of the global
environmental movement in the 1990s to the cause of
sustainable global consumerist capitalism by incorporating
potential enemies into what Gramsci called new historical
blocs.

11. THE CORPORATE CAPTURE OF
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The fractions of the Transnational Capitalist Class
Owners and Globalizing Consumerist elites
Controllers of TNCs bureaucrats and and (merchants and
and their local politicians media)
affiliates
Create the discourse of
Sustainable Development
Through
New Historical Blocs and Neo-liberal globalization
To support the capitalist interests of:
Free enterprise Unlimited production Unlimited consumption

12. Conclusion
• The combination of the discourse of sustainable
development with that of national and
international competitiveness provides powerful
weapons for the transnational capitalist class.
• Globalization is not a 'Western' but a globalizing
capitalist ideology, whose discourse and practices
are necessary to negate the growing class
polarization and ecological crises characteristic of
this latest stage in the long history of capitalism.

13. Questions
• How does the discourse of competiveness strengthen
and perpetuate inequality?
• In what other areas can you see the role of the TCC
shaping or controlling discourse?
• What affect does increased bureaucratic control of
social institutions have on the natural variety and
development those institutions might have?
• Can you identify this phenomenon in your experience?
(in school, church, work, social organizations?)
• In your opinion, is this phenomenon acceptable or
inacceptable/beneficial or harmful?