Dear RSF:

Please join us on Wednesday, April 3, at 11:00 in the library for a presentation by Jen Heerwig entitled “The Shifting Political Strategies of America’s Corporate Elite, 1980-2008.”

Heerwig received her Ph.D in sociology from NYU in 2013.  She is assistant professor of sociology at SUNY-Stony Brook and a former postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.  Her work has been published in the American Journal of Sociology, Social Science Research, and Demography. 

During her time at RSF, Heerwig is studying the evolution of American corporate elites’ political preferences and behavior from 1980 to the present day. She will analyze the extent to which these elites have influenced deregulation, the rollback of social welfare programs, and the reduction in income tax rates. She will also draw from a new longitudinal database that links corporate executives, directors, and board members to federal political donations to determine the extent to which individual contributions from corporate elites affect policy outcomes.