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Manufacturing Discontent: The Trap of Individualism in Corporate Society Paperback – September 20, 2005

by Michael Perelman (Author)

3 customer reviews

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Corporate power has a huge impact on the rights and privileges of individuals -- as workers, consumers, and citizens. This book explores how the myth of individualism reinforces corporate power by making people perceive themselves as having choices, when in fact most peoples' options are very limited. Perelman describes the manufacture of unhappiness - the continual generation of dissatisfaction with products people are encouraged to purchase and quickly discard - and the complex techniques corporations employ to avoid responsibility and accountability to their workers, consumers and the environment. He outlines ways in which individuals can surpass individualism and instead work together to check the growing power of corporations. While other books have surveyed the corporate landscape, or decried modern consumerism, Perelman, a professor of economics, places these ideas within a proper economic and historical context. He explores the limits of corporate accountability and responsibility, and investigates the relation between a wide range of phenomena such as food, fear and terrorism. Highly readable, Manufacturing Discontent will appeal to anyone with an interest in the way society works - and what really determines the rights of individuals in a corporate society.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sinisa Malesevic is lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Sociology, NUI, Galway. He is author of Ideology, Legitimacy and the New State (Frank Cass, 2002), editor of Culture in Central and Eastern Europe: Institutional and Value Changes (IMO, 1997) and co-editor of Ideology after Poststructuralism (Pluto 2002)._x000B_Iain MacKenzie is a Lecturer in Politics at The Queen's University of Belfast. He is author of articles on Deleuze and Guattari and co-author of Contemporary Social and Political Theory: An Introduction (OUP, 1999).

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Pluto Press (September 20, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0745324061
ISBN-13: 978-0745324067
Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,176,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3245 in Books > Business & Money > Economics > Theory
- #14070 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Political Science > History & Theory
- #15582 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Anthropology > Cultural

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Malvin

The illusory freedom of consumer choice

November 25, 2006

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

"Manufacturing Discontent" by Michael Perelman is a thoughtful study and analysis of corporate power. Mr. Perelman deconstructs the myth of individualism and consumer sovereignty to reveal how corporations exploit workers and material resources for profit. Written with passion and intelligence, this highly readable text should appeal to everyone interested in gaining a greater understanding of the interrelationship between corporate influence and individual powerlessness.

Mr. Perelman explains how corporations in the U.S. enjoy legal standing as individuals but can use their immortality and deep financial resources to extend control over government, thereby engendering laws that mostly frees them of the burden of public accountability. According to Mr. Perelman, the illusory freedom of individual consumer choice is a poor substitute for economic and political power; the author points out that while corporations enjoy free speech rights and access to a sympathetic media, governments have done little to protect worker and consumer rights. Interestingly, Mr. Perleman attributes the inflated cost of material goods with increased corporate marketing and advertising budgets while alerting us to the growing dissatisfaction of individuals who pay dearly for their addiction to consumerism.

Mr. Perelman discusses how business risk has shifted from corporations to individuals. We learn that large international banks are usually backed up by their host governments to help shield bankers from loan losses. Structural adjustment policies are often imposed upon debtor nations, who in turn extract wage concessions from workers in order to secure repayment. Mr. Perelman goes on to explain how the airline, asbestos, biotech, nuclear and other industries have benefited from government largesse while worker's rights and social benefits have been cut. Overall, the author succeeds in illustrating how a peculiar form of socialism prevails for the corporate sector while a brutish sink-or-swim individualism has become the lot of the poor.

Mr. Perelman is also perceptive in his unmasking of how fear has been used to cow the public into unquestionably accepting corporate policy. From the Cold War's fear of communism to the fear of terrorism today, the media often prepares the way for citizens to vote for politicians who advocate massive funding of dubious defense projects or to support policies that protect corporate interests in general. Mr. Perelman critiques the paucity of investigative journalism and editorial independence, submitting that the public cannot fulfill its citizenship role without access to unbiased information. However, the author remains hopeful that individuals may be able to collectively assert their democratic rights; he reasons that people can not forever tolerate a corporate agenda that threatens the destruction of human creativity and the environment.

I highly recommend this excellent book to everyone.

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Mozart

Thorough, well reasoned analysis of corporatism

June 5, 2010

Format: Paperback

If you're an average citizen without ownership alignment with a corporation, you're playing at a serious disadvantage. You're playing poker, and the rules heavily favor the corporations. The odds are stacked against you. This book was written before the BP Gulf Oil Spill, and the Federal bailout of the banks. The banks are still in existence. Why aren't they bankrupt? Many of the workers who were laid off are bankrupt? But the owners and shareholders weren't held accountable for all the risk they took. Citbank had a debt/equity ration of 30-1! No bank will give you a loan with that kind of leverage. And what happened? You, the taxpayer, had to pay them through the federal reserve. BP's equipment caused the worst oil spill in history. Millions of people from LA are economically devastated. Will BP be held accountable for the problems they caused? No.
Compare that to a citizen. If a citizen is driving on a rainy street, loses control of the car, and hits a traffic light, the city will send them a bill to fix the traffic light.
Will BP have to pay for the FULL cost of the cleanup? on June 4th, 2010, 30+ days into this oil disaster, the owners of BP still distributed cash to all stock owners.

This book describes what's going on accurately.
-
I also just watched Michael Moore's Capitalism. That movie can't compare to this book. That movie is half truths and one sided opinions. This book gives a much truer picture of the problems in our capitalistic economy.
In my opinion, the problem isn't capitalism. The problem is the laws of the US that favor the owners of corporations over the individual citizens. This book is based on that very premise.

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Maxzis

It's as if social dynamics don't exist

July 23, 2015

Format: Paperback

This book only takes in to account economical factors. The social dynamics driven by economics aren't even addressed.

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