Conclusion

Chapter 7 puts the book’s findings into context by exploring what they have to teach us about the role of the new corporate elite in American politics. The chapter outlines the approach taken in the book—namely, to document the engagement of Silicon Valley corporate elites through their firms, as individuals, and via associative forms. The chapter reviews the conclusions of the study, including the following: (1) the Silicon Valley corporate landscape is diverse when it comes to political engagement; (2) there is a top tier among the Silicon Valley firms and elites when it comes to expenditures on lobbying and elections; (3) most elites skew liberal even if their firms do not, and the philanthropic spending of elites supports a new liberal agenda. The chapter concludes by discussing limitations of this project and opportunities for future work.