Julian Cardenas
Although I wanted to be a soccer player and I like listening to music more than reading, I ended up being a professor, researcher, and Doctor in Sociology. Currently, I am Professor of Sociology at the Universitat de Valencia, Spain. Before, I was a lecturer at the Alice Salomon University in Berlin (Germany), the principal investigator (PI) of a research project at the Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), professor at the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellin (Colombia), postdoctoral Researcher at the IESE Business School, and lecturer at the Universitat de Barcelona (Spain).
I teach networking, network analysis, quantitative research, statistics, and economic sociology. I’m interested in how people interact with each other. I believe that by studying networks we can better understand the world, and “weaving” networks we can have a better life: learning more, earning more, hanging out more, and being happier.
My research focuses mainly on how business elites are organized and interconnected. I think the best way to control elites is to investigate them. We’ve created a Research Network of Latin American Elites Studies (REAL) so, if you are interested, feel free to join us.
I do training courses in network analysis and blogging on Networkianos about quantitative data analysis, research methods, and sociology.
My publications:
de Sousa Barros, Thiago, Julián Cárdenas & Wesley Mendes-da-Silva (2020). The effect of interlocking directorates on mergers and acquisitions in Brazil. Journal of Management and Governance. We show that when directors belong to several companies at the same time, these firms are more likely to carry out a merger or acquisition. Corporate elite networks influence the future of the firms.
Cárdenas, Julián, Francisco Robles-Rivera & Diego Martínez-Vallejo (2020) Business elites and inequality in times of pandemic in Latin America. Spanish Journal of Sociology. Triple analysis to understand the effects of the pandemic in Latin America: the devaluation / depreciation of the value of Latin American currencies, high informality in employment, and demands from business elites for more regressive tax policies. A little hopeful outlook.
Cárdenas, Julián (2020) Elites in Latin America: an introduction. Spanish Journal of Sociology. The study of elites in Latin America is an opportunity to further advance the sociology of elites. It shows the growth of publications about Latin American elites and which topics are still unexplored.
García Calavia, Miguel Ángel, Julián Cárdenas & Roberto Barbeito (2020) Presentation of the debate: Social impacts of COVID-19: a new challenge for sociology. Spanish Journal of Sociology. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world and sociology must have a central role in the reading and interpretation of these changes. Various contributions are presented in this special issue.
Aragón-Falomir, Jaime & Julián Cárdenas (2020) Análisis de redes empresariales y puertas giratorias en México: Cartografía de una clase dominante público-privada. Temas y Debates. The big businessmen in Mexico are very connected to each other (more than in any other country in the world), and the most connected companies are those with “revolving doors”.
Cárdenas, Julián (2020) Exploring the relationship between business elite networks and redistributive social policies in Latin American countries. Sustainability 12(1). Networking among business elites can have an unexpected effect on redistribution. Where business elites formed cohesive networks, social protection and labor programs were more inclusive
Guzmán-Concha, César & Julián Cárdenas (2019) Captura del Estado y Redes Empresariales en Chile. Fundación Heinrich Böll. Quantitative analysis of the increase in corruption in Chile and the cohesion of business elites, are they linked phenomena?
Fernández-Esquinas, Manuel, Julián Cárdenas & María Isabel Sánchez Rodríguez (2019) El Estatus Científico de Profesiones y Prácticas: una comparación entre ciencias experimentales, ciencias sociales y pseudociencias. En FECYT. Percepción Social de la Ciencia y la Tecnología en España. How scientific do people perceive sociology? Why do some perceive sociology less scientific? Interesting results for framing the discipline.
Cardenas, Julian & Francisco Robles-Rivera (2019) The Role of Business Elite Networks and Media Capture in the Success or Failure of Redistributive Political Projects. Working paper – Media has a prominent role in the popular perception about tax systems, pensions, and efficiency of public policies, and in consequence over income redistribution. But, who influences media? Understanding media capture means not just making sense of who owns media, it also means considering how media companies are connected to the largest corporations
Tamayo, William, Julián Cárdenas & Liliana Chaves (2019) Formación de Recuerdos Flashbulb en población colombiana. Revista de Psicología. Applying structural equation models to understand the sticky memories we have
Cardenas, Julian (2018) The Role of Business Elites in Sustainable Development: a “networked” research agenda. TrAndes series – On how business elites and their connections are relevant to understanding the challenges of sustainable development
Cardenas, Julian (2018) Elites and Development – Course Manual on elites and development.
Cardenas, Julian (2018) Quantitative Research – Manual for beginners in Quantitative Research. You can download it for free and use it in your courses or subjects. Also available in English
Cárdenas, Julián & Robles-Rivera, Francisco (2018) Networks to state capture: business elite networks and mechanisms of corporate state capture in Central American countries. Working paper
Cárdenas, Julián (2018) Las Redes de las Élites Propietarias en Chile – En, La Vida en Redes. – Research on the owners of the largest Chilean corporations. An interesting finding: only 64 major shareholders control the largest companies in Chile, and several of these owners are connected by having shares in the same companies.
Tamayo, William, Liliana Chaves & Julián Cárdenas (2017) Propiedades Psicométricas de una Prueba de Recuerdos Flashbulb. Revista Iberoamericana de Diagnóstico y Evaluación Psicológica – RIDEP. Flashbulb memories are memories of an event that we remember almost everything: when it happened, who we were with, what happened. These sticky memories are usually associated with the reception of unexpected news. For example, a flashbulb memory on the 9/11. We probably remember many details of that day, such as where we were, with whom…
Cardenas, Julian (2017) Knowledge Networking in Sociology: analysis of blog networks, Youtube videos, and comments on Twitter on Sociology. Teknokultura. I analyze the production and dissemination of knowledge about Sociology in online social media. Very interesting results (see summary)
Cardenas, Julian (2017) The networks of the academic elite of Sociology. Spanish Journal of Sociology (Revista Española de Sociología). Analysis of the personal networks that the most recognized and cited sociologists weaved, the academic elite of Sociology. (see article)
Cardenas, Julian (2016) Why do corporate elites form cohesive networks in some countries, and do not in others? Cross-national analysis of corporate elite networks in Latin America. International Sociology. Analysis of the factors that explain why business elites organize differently across Latin America.
Cardenas, Julian (2016) Network analysis: what it is, growth and future. Pensando Psicología 12 (19). A brief editorial on the basics of network analysis and its growth in the last years.
Cárdenas, Julián (2016) Interweaving business elites in Latin America: analysis of interlocking directorates and ownership networks in Mexico, Chile, Peru and Brazil. América Latina Hoy. In this article, I compare the directorship and ownership networks of the largest Latin American corporations. One of the findings that struck me most is that in some countries like Chile there are supra-business groups, which are a kind of community of several business groups, which share both directors and shareholders.
Cardenas, Julian (2015) Are Latin America’s corporate elites transnationally interconnected? A network analysis of interlocking directorates. Global Networks. Network analysis on business elites in Latin America. Surprising findings, well, at least I was surprised.
Cardenas, Julián and César Guzmán-Concha (2015) The networks among the largest corporations in Chile CIPER (Center for Journalistic Research). Short article on the concentration of Chilean business elites, identification of central directors for being “multi-employed” in several large companies and unmasking the false image of the free market and competition. Contains the network map among the largest firms in Chile
Cardenas, Julián, Alejandro Guzmán, Carlos Sánchez and Juan David Vanegas (2015) What is created by fostering entrepreneurship? The main impacts of training in this field. Universidad & Empresa. Through a wide survey of people who received entrepreneurship courses, we value the implications of fostering entrepreneurship. Very interesting conclusions to take into account when betting or not on entrepreneurship.
Jiménez, Mercedes, Alberto Ferrer, Liliana Chaves, Oscar E. Navarro, Juan G. Marín, Julián Cárdenas and Sandra C. Rodríguez (2015) Preliminary analysis of a questionnaire evaluating the social perception of air pollution. Revista de Salud Pública. Factorial analysis of indicators created to measure people’s opinion on air quality.
Cardenas, Julian (2014) The World Economic Power: Analysis of Interlocking Networks and Varieties of Capitalism. Madrid: CIS. Data, theories, and reflections on power, networks, and sociology. Here you can see the book trailer If you want to have this book online, email me and I’ll send you for free.
Cardenas, Julian (2013) Fragmented elites in Colombia, aimless development. Alma Mater. Article in the media which shows the division of business elites in Colombia, i.e., there is no cohesive national elite. The exception is the Antioqueño Business Group, a business group from Medellin, very united by their shared directors.
Cardenas, Julian (2012) Varieties of Corporate Networks: network analysis and fsQCA. International Journal of Comparative Sociology. I combine network analysis and fuzzy set qualitative analysis to explain the causes of corporate networks. One of the first articles that mixed fsQCA and network analysis
Cardenas, Julian (2012) The network organization of corporate power: a typology of corporate networks. Revista Internacional de Sociología. The distinction between elitist and pluralistic networks based on an analysis of interlocking networks in 12 developed economies.
Mair, Johanna, Julie Battilana and Julian Cardenas (2012) Organizing for society: A typology of social entrepreneuring. Journal of Business Ethics. Study on the various types of social entrepreneurs, identified after a content analysis of their initiatives. One of the articles where I learned the most. We found interesting conclusions on how social entrepreneurs’ initiatives can be classified as they promote social capital, economic capital, human capital, and political capital.
Cárdenas, Julián (2006) La visualización de los interlocks globales. Sociología para el Futuro. I analyze whether the world’s largest corporations are interconnected. It is one of my first papers and I found a united economic elite on both sides of the North Atlantic, connecting the top North American and European business firms.
Rodriguez, José A., Julian Cardenas and Christian Oltra (2006) Economic Power Networks in Europe. Sistema: Revista de Ciencias Sociales. We show that there is a small group of owners who control the European leading companies.
You can also download these publications in Academia and Researchgate, or check my profile in Scopus, Orcid or Publons
If you want to contact me:
