The Villains of the World: Corporations

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The rise of corporations is one of the utmost wicked stories in modern history, a reality the youth of today must live in. Growing up in an era of Disney tales allows the youth of today to see the world in two separate parts, the good and evil. We age with the belief that there are villains and then there are the heroes, who save us from harm’s way. Regardless of what happened, we knew that the heroes would always win at the end of the story, and the villains would always fail. ‘The Corporation’ by Joel Bakan, can be presented, idealistically, as an incredible story of heroes and villains. However, in Bakan’s version of the story the villains are conquering. It is evident that corporations have become a component in the everyday lives of the current generation. Bakan views corporations as evil entities that have manipulated and succeeded to such a degree that they dictate the majority of the decisions we make in our lives. The author argues that corporations are on a ‘pathological pursuit of profit and power.’ He views corporations as narcissistic, entitled, and selfish. Based on the definition that Bakan has provided, it is clear that corporations have no moral consciousness, because moral judgment and consciousness are what makes us human. Accordingly, while corporations are ‘persons’ under the law, in reality they are not living entities that can make decisions about the amount of profit they want, or ways in which they can gain more control; living entities dictate these decisions. The corporations are just instruments that ‘villains’ use to mask their evil greed, selfishness, and narcissism. Bakan’s argument that corporations are on a ‘pathological pursuit of profit and power’ is a somewhat legitimate argument. Some corporate...

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Heilbroner, R. L., & Milberg, W. S. (2002). Modern Capitalism Emerges in Europe . The making of economic society (13th ed., p. 119). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education .

MacGregor, Mary, E & Plourde, André. (1987). Regulating and deregulating Canadian natural gas. Toronto: Policy and Economic Analysis Program, Institute for Policy Analysis, University of Toronto.

McNally, David. (2009). The Great Panic of 2008: Global Slump: The Economic and Politics of Crisis and Resistance. Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing. Pp. 14-38.

Weinstein, Marc. "The Industrial Revolution & The Impact of Technology." Social, Political and Economic Themes in Western Civilization. TEL 1005, York University, Toronto. 2 Dec. 2014. Lecture.

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