Sociology

The political sociology of foreign direct investment

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Theory and research in sociology and political economy have revealed important elements of the structure of world capitalism, but its dynamics remain both more controversial and more opaque. This study uses quantitative cross-national regression analysis to analyze the determinants of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which originates in core (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) nations and is placed in noncore nations. Based on the theory of global capitalism, which contends that in a new stage of capitalism, First World manufacturing investment seeks Third World labor which is more docile and less costly than that in the older industrial regions, this study finds support for the hypotheses that labor control and, to a lesser degree, labor cost are determinants of FDI, net of level of development. © 1995 BRILL.

Publication Title

International Journal of Comparative Sociology

Publication Date

1-1995

Volume

36

Issue

3-4

First Page

198

Last Page

218

ISSN

0020-7152

DOI

10.1177/002071529503600306

Keywords

Foreign Direct Investment, global capitalism

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