The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power - Joel Bakan

Corporation defined

More and more people are voicing their opinion that the reason for the worlds' problems are corporations, but few are able to ellaborate why.

This book analyzes how the Corporation was conceived, and how over time it gained more power to the point now where through the funding of presidential candidates, how they use this as a proverbial bribe to ensure they get what they want.

The book cites many examples of how this entity is deemed as Pathological, and why it is shocking that while there are many wars being fought on abstract nouns - Terror, drugs etc, Corporations are continuing to cause harm on an unprecedented scale right in front of our eyes!

Pathological

The subtitle "The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power" says it all.
What would the world be like if its rulers were insane? The message being offered here is that as far as their Legal structure is concerned, the modern Corporation only has responsibility to its Shareholders, but yet the Shareholders wield no effective power over them – so the Corporation is out of control.
We can see how the modern CEO can be a different form of robber baron.
This is not an anti-globalisation polemic (I read those as well), but a calm & lucid description of what is wrong, and what we can do about it.
The most important truth of all : Corporations have no lives, no powers and no capacities beyond what we, through our Governments, give them. So let's get them back under control.

Very thorough and informative

Capitalism is the now unchallenged organising power of human life, able to reach into any area of the world, and as this book shows, any area of life too - well, the attempt is being made. At the vanguard of this accelerating domination is the corporation. An institution which has been set one simple and sole purpose, to make money. Unscrupulous and shifty, ambiguous and image conscious, ruthless and exploitative, the corporation is documented as such in this extremely well-researched, readable and informative book. Joel Bakan does not only state the detractors of the corporation, but gives voice to its defenders. I doubt if many executives would then grant the description 'fair and balanced' to the book; but I doubt if they would read it. Pity.

Worth the read despite shortcomings

A very intellectual and well thought through argument against the power of corporations as they are. "Fahrenheit 9/11 for people who think - The Independent": good quote.

I would criticise it for a few things however:
1. The fact that corporations are psychopaths because of their legal incorporation to make money for their shareholders at the expense of everything else is repeated continually through the book, and that's really the only idea in the book; the rest is just evidence to support this (horrific examples of corporate activities, well worth reading)

2. I almost felt that the author was using the legal status of corporations as an excuse through the book for their behaviour. Perhaps he was just doing a great job of being non-emotive?!

3. I think the book doesn't go far enough, corporations are just institutionalised symptoms of greed; human greed pure and simple: your greed, 'their greed' and my greed. The book touched on this but I think it needed to look deeper at our own psyche.

I'd recommend everybody read this book, but try to look deeper at the human causes behind the greed of corporations: perhaps read a little of Karl Marx's "Das Kaptial" (he is quoted in the book as having said that capitalists will hang themselves on their own excesses).

No wonder the last Woodstock went up in flames!

Joel Bakan has written a book which should surprise no one who has worked for a multinational, or been at the receieving end of the "externalisation" of costs. As the west faces competition from the emerging economies of China and India, where tax regimes and public infrastructure, and vast areas of poverty, pale in comparison to that which we expect, it is clear that even social costs are being externalised in the pursuit of profit and greed.

This book therefore could not be more timely, because left to their own devices, corporations have no feeling, no remorse, no guilt, no loyalty, and little responsibility. They are barely held to account for their actions, (once they become too big), and wield more power than many national governments. Profit is the word, and anyone or anything in the way is a mere inconvenience, and Bakan likens all of this to the clinical description of a psychopath.

What do you expect of your employers and your suppliers of goods and services? Should they have a social and environmental conscience rather than one purely aims at generating the maximum profits for shareholders? Should they have a loyalty to a population once they have invested and grown them? What is the future of your job, your working conditions, your environment and your health, and how does the corporation fit in?

With a historic perspective of why corporations were banned, and plenty of examples of corporate misdeeds that have gone largely unpunished, some of which are simply shocking, (Three pages of cases against GE!), you can really get a feel of why Bakan has his concerns.

Whilst this might seem like left wing Marxism, it is infact written by a professor of law. This book is a doddle to read and understand, so read it! Then consider what you should do to prevent the demise of government and democracy in the name of corporate profit.