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The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power Paperback – March 7, 2005

by Joel Bakan (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 103 ratings
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The inspiration for the film that won the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary, The Corporation contends that the corporation is created by law to function much like a psychopathic personality, whose destructive behavior, if unchecked, leads to scandal and ruin.

Over the last 150 years the corporation has risen from relative obscurity to become the world’s dominant economic institution. Eminent Canadian law professor and legal theorist Joel Bakan contends that today's corporation is a pathological institution, a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and societies.

In this revolutionary assessment of the history, character, and globalization of the modern business corporation, Bakan backs his premise with the following observations:

-The corporation’s legally defined mandate is to pursue relentlessly and without exception its own economic self-interest, regardless of the harmful consequences it might cause to others.
-The corporation’s unbridled self-interest victimizes individuals, society, and, when it goes awry, even shareholders and can cause corporations to self-destruct, as recent Wall Street scandals reveal.
-Governments have freed the corporation, despite its flawed character, from legal constraints through deregulation and granted it ever greater authority over society through privatization.

But Bakan believes change is possible and he outlines a far-reaching program of achievable reforms through legal regulation and democratic control.

Featuring in-depth interviews with such wide-ranging figures as Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, business guru Peter Drucker, and cultural critic Noam Chomsky, The Corporation is an extraordinary work that will educate and enlighten students, CEOs, whistle-blowers, power brokers, pawns, pundits, and politicians alike.
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  1. Print length
    240 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Free Press
  4. Publication date
    March 7, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.7 x 8.44 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0743247469
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0743247467
  8. See all details
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4.5 out of 5 stars
103 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book informative and interesting. It provides them with great information and understanding about corporations. Many of them find it thought-provoking and say it gives them a new perspective. They describe it as a quick, informative read that saves time.

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13 customers mention "Readability"13 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative and interesting. They describe it as a classic and an important read. The book is well-written and concise, providing useful insights into corporations.

"The problem with corporations that this well-written book describes has only grown worse since its publication. Highly recommended." Read more

"This is the most important book I have read during my lifetime. The content of the book has been well described in other reviews...." Read more

"Joel Balkans "The Corporation" is an inightful and interesting book, one which I would recommend be required reading for everyone...." Read more

"I enjoyed the book. Was super interesting. However, it is pretty opinionated & anti-corporate." Read more

8 customers mention "Information quality"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides good information and understanding about corporations. It's well-researched, with factual data that may be difficult to remember. The book offers a compelling review of corporations and their impacts on society.

"...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..." Read more

"...It will not make you happy but it will give you great information and understanding about how corporations think and make decisions." Read more

"...A very quick and informative and interesting read. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who does not work high up within the corporate world...." Read more

"I read this fasinating and informative book two weeks before the BP oil spill. The be al and end all of corporations is to increase profits...." Read more

8 customers mention "Interest"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and thought-provoking. It provides a new perspective and causes reflection.

"...This book gave me a new perspective and a way to view all of these things as being interrelated...." Read more

"...This is no doubt an interesting experiment, since this is something that has never happened before since life began on this planet billions of years..." Read more

"I enjoyed the book. Was super interesting. However, it is pretty opinionated & anti-corporate." Read more

"...large automotive companies for over 45 years I found this book very interesting as it explained why large corporations do what they do...." Read more

3 customers mention "Time saving"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book a quick and informative read that saves time. They say it's well-written and timely.

"...Having done so, I have to say that it is still well-written, still timely, and still pretty horrifying...." Read more

"...A very quick and informative and interesting read. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who does not work high up within the corporate world...." Read more

"...It is somewhat easier to listen on the way to & from work, and saves time." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • M. A. McGrath
    5.0 out of 5 stars The problem has grown worse
    Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    The problem with corporations that this well-written book describes has only grown worse since its publication. Highly recommended.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book as soon as possible
    Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    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. The book basically covers the history of corporations, discusses what their reason for existence is, and talks about their behavior in society, leading up to the current situation. Since it's a short book written in a popular style, it's more of a summary of all these topics than a detailed academic thesis. I have been thinking about the role of special interests, the costs of things in our society and the place of the middle class. I'm also interested in things like global warming and energy. This book gave me a new perspective and a way to view all of these things as being interrelated. I think that many in our society are stuck in a cold war mentality of capitalism vs. socialism. This book seems to suggest that there is a different dynamic at play in which corporations, which are very undemocratic by nature, are taking over the public domain and taking advantage of the public for their profit-maximizing activities. Once you read this book, you will recognize this encroachement in various aspects of our scoiety, among them, health care, utilities, education, war efforts, energy policy and environmental protection. If every voter read this book, understood what it was saying, and thought honestly about the implications, we might have a much more reasoned and intelligent debate about the future direction of our country.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Gina M. Harris
    5.0 out of 5 stars Still timely
    Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    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.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Robert G. Boyd
    5.0 out of 5 stars Corporations may cause the extinction of the human species.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    This is the most important book I have read during my lifetime. The content of the book has been well described in other reviews. I just want to add one observation. Fossil fuel corporations will maximize their profits by extracting all the accessible carbon buried in the earth and putting it into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas). This is no doubt an interesting experiment, since this is something that has never happened before since life began on this planet billions of years ago. But I really do not want to find out what will happen. The planet Venus is much like our planet, except that its atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and it is hot enough at the surface to melt lead. Venus is a good illustration of a runaway greenhouse effect. It may not get that bad here, but certainly industrial civilization will collapse, and there will be mass famine and mass migrations as people travel north to get away from tropical heat. We are living through the sixth mass extinction since the beginning of life on earth, Usually the dominant species becomes extinct. We are the dominant species.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • No Name
    3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, Well researched, however weak on the delivery.
    Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    Joel Balkans "The Corporation" is an inightful and interesting book, one which I would recommend be required reading for everyone. However even with this I have greviances with the way the book was written and in essence it's delivery. My first problem is that the book is laced with emotional patter and ideology. While I may agree with the emotional patter and some aspects of the ideology represented it is a poor way to write a book critical of corporatism. The book deserved a far more indepth analysis, however I am aware that the book is a take on the documentary(which was excellent) rather then the documentary being a take on the book.

    The cases which the book outlined -especially the fact that the government is in a partnership with corporate America and that the government is only willing to seriously punish and disolve small companies- were extremely and intriuging. This captivated me on a serious level. I could say it even further concreted my intellectual stance on corparatism.

    Joel Balkan- unlike many others who have written on this subject- provides his own sollution on the subject. He is intellegent enough to realise that the corporation can not be disolved overnight and that the repercussions of such actions would be to severly detremental in the short-medium term. However he outlines ideas to regulate their influence in politcs, control them to make sure they are forced to be socially responsible or if not that responsible for violations of laws they comit and he also provides hope towards the futre disolvment of the instituion the corporation.

    Balkan also provdes and interesting contention which he repeats throughout the book. The Corporation is not responsible to the people as it is a phsycotic instituion designed only to profit for it's shareholders. This is the most important point one can acquire from reading the book.

    If the book was more in-depth and absent of emotion and ideology I would have definetely give it 5 stars. My main problem is it is two short, breif and similiar to the documentary. However I still recomend everyone read this book.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Taylor
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Read
    Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    I enjoyed the book. Was super interesting. However, it is pretty opinionated & anti-corporate.
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