Corporation Nation: How Corporations are Taking Over Our Lives -- and What We Can Do About It - Hardcover

Derber, Charles

3.73

64 ratings by Goodreads

9780312192884: Corporation Nation: How Corporations are Taking Over Our Lives -- and What We Can Do About It

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312192886 ISBN 13: 9780312192884

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 1998

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Foreword by Ralph Nader. In Corporation Nation Derber addresses the unchecked power of today’s corporations to shape the way we work, earn, buy, sell, and think—the very way we live. Huge, far-reaching mergers are now commonplace, downsizing is rampant, and our lines of communication, news and entertainment media, jobs, and savings are increasingly controlled by a handful of global—and unaccountable—conglomerates. We are, in effect, losing our financial and emotional security, depending more than ever on the whim of these corporations. But it doesn’t have to be this way, as this book makes clear. Just as the original Populist movement of the nineteenth century helped dethrone the robber barons, Derber contends that a new, positive populism can help the U.S. workforce regain its self-control.

Drawing on core sociological concepts and demonstrating the power of the sociological imagination, he calls for revisions in our corporate system, changes designed to keep corporations healthy while also making them answerable to the people. From rewriting corporate charters to altering consumer habits, Derber offers new aims for businesses and empowering strategies by which we all can make a difference.

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From the Publisher:

Critical Praise for Corporation Nation:

"Sophisticated, vividly written, and convincing...A work of generous imagination that looks wisely to the future and lays out a sober plan of action for Americans committed to a truly just and equitable social order." --Jonathan Kozol, author of Amazing Grace and Savage Inequalities

"In Corporation Nation, Charles Derber goes beyond documenting the megacorporate power that rules America--which was not what America was supposed to become--and presents a unified agenda for a resurgent democracy that should appeal to progressives of many different causes and some conservatives, who are not corporatists, as well." --Ralph Nader

"A rising tide should lift all boats. But too often in our modern society, as Charles Derber skillfully points out, millions of Americans are left out or left behind.... Professor Derber's analysis and recommendations should be read and heeded by all who believe that free enterprise can be fair enterprise too." --Senator Edward M. Kennedy

"It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the issues addressed in this thoughtful and well-informed study of modern corporations...a substantial and very timely contribution." --Noam Chomsky

"A valuable contribution, with concrete proposals for ordinary citizens to effect real change, strengthen our democracy, and reclaim our populist heritage." --Senator Paul Wellstone

"An invaluable, on-target contribution to redefining the political debate. Corporation Nation provides a depth of data and analysis useful in building a case for change. A guiding beacon for those committed to restoring democracy and economic justice." --David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World

"An important book in the current economic boom, Corporation Nation will seem prophetic the next time the economy cycles into a recession or depression." --George Ritzer, author of The McDonaldization of America

About the Author:

Charles Derber, professor of sociology at Boston College and noted social critic, is the author of The Wilding of America.

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