Abstract

This article reviews the literature on business-government-society relations during the past three decades. It describes the growth of scholarship on business power, business political activity, the changing political agenda, interest group representation, and changing social expectations and explores in detail three approaches to the study of the political and social role of business: a comparative perspective, an emphasis on the contemporary political and social environment of business, and an exploration of the nature of business power. While we have clearly learned much about this important subject, the intellectual fragmentation of this field prevents it from realizing its full scholarly potential.