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Title: The Corporation
Subtitle: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power
Author: Joel Bakan
Narrator: Rebecca Jenkins
Format: Unabridged
Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
Language: English
Release date: 08-08-12
Publisher: Post Hypnotic Press Inc.
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 14 votes
Genres: Business, Management
Publisher's Summary:
Joel Bakan's book is a brilliantly argued account of the corporation's pathological pursuit of profit and power. An eminent law professor and legal theorist, Bakan contends that the corporation is created by law to function much like a psychopathic personality whose destructive behavior, if left unchecked, leads to scandal and ruin.
In the most revolutionary assessment of the corporation as a legal and economic institution since Peter Drucker's early works, Bakan backs his premise with the following claims:
Despite the structural failings found in the corporation, Bakan believes change is possible and outlines a far-reaching program of concrete, pragmatic, and realistic reforms through legal regulation and democratic control.
Backed by extensive research, The Corporation draws on in-depth interviews with such wide-ranging figures as CEO Hank McKinnell of Pfizer, Nobel Prize-winner Milton Friedman, business guru Peter Drucker, and critic Noam Chomsky of MIT.
Members Reviews:
Still timely
I saw the movie for The Corporation back in 2003. It was the first time I had ever heard of Monsanto, and while I was not completely politically unaware at the time, the movie caused kind of a jump forward in awareness. I had always meant to read the associated book; it just took me a while.
Having done so, I have to say that it is still well-written, still timely, and still pretty horrifying. I wish there were better answers, but we have often shown that we are not willing to put people before profits, and that is what a lot of it comes down to.
I still recommend the book for some valuable historical information, and also for the help it gives in cutting through the crap of what various companies might say about corporate responsibility and things like that.
The title says it all...
Bakan first explains why we need to consider every corporation -- and especially those traded on the NY Stock Exchange -- as a pathologically insane psychopath. Does that sound extreme to you? It did to me, until I read his book and realized that every for-profit corporation fits that diagnosis. Yet we need them, and we need both government and civic action to control their pathological behavior.
For example, Bakan makes a strong case for passing a 38th amendment to our Constitution stating that corporations are not people and money is not speech. These two concepts have woven their way into the fabric of our corporate legal system over the last 150 years. The consequences of corporate personhood are far-reaching, yet way below the radar of your typical news program.
Before you take to the streets and rally against Citizen's United, you need to read Bakan and discover that the problem runs deeper than that one Supreme Court decision.
Excellent!
Finally, a person of courage who speaks the truth about the Hydra that is consuming us. We have all been victimized by business. We know these problems are real and will require radical approaches. Good to hear the words spoken.
Read this book as soon as possible
This book has somewhat of a strange style in that it takes about a third of the book to get use to the way it is written and be drawn in. Don't let that fool you though. By the time you get to the end, you will feel like you've read one of the most important books written recently.
