This book investigates the influence of globalization on ideology and politics in the United States. Ronald Cox and Daniel Skidmore-Hess argue that U.S. policy has been motivated less by anxiety about the independence and stability of the domestic economy and more by worry about factors that might limit the participation of U.S. corporations in international markets. Connecting trends in domestic and foreign policy with the changing needs of industry, they associate increased globalization with the the breakup of the liberal, New Deal coalition; the collapse of the Bretton Woods Agreement in the 1970s; the neoconservative, antiregulatory movements of the 1980s; and the rightward drift of both the Republican and Democratic Parties.
Spanning the complete era of the Conservative governments and the first term of New Labour, this book looks at mechanisms of corporate power and influence; corporate opinion and influence in a range of social policy areas including: education, training, health and social security; changing business influence on social policy in recent years in an international context and business involvement in social policy initiatives and welfare delivery.
Spanning the complete era of the Conservative governments and the first term of New Labour, this book looks at mechanisms of corporate power and influence; corporate opinion and influence in a range of social policy areas including: education, training, health and social security; changing business influence on social policy in recent years in an international context and business involvement in social policy initiatives and welfare delivery. By exploring business views and opinions, power, influence and involvement in social provision, this book helps to address important questions in social policy and, in so doing, goes some way towards closing a gaping hole in the current literature. The book's breadth and multidisciplinary approach will appeal not only to students of social policy, but also to students of business, public sector management and politics, their teachers and policy makers in the field.
One of America's most distinguished economists, Neil H. Jacoby has served as a public member of the Phase II pay board, an economic adviser to President Eisenhower, founding dean of UCLA's Graduate School of Management, and a consultant to numerous government agencies and private corporations. In "Corporate Power And Social Responsibility" he gives a thorough, objective "social assessment" of the American corporation. He identifies trends which point to a changing corporate role at home and abroad and he offers creative reforms of corporate and public policy which will promote a more "just, efficient, creative and democratic society." Jacoby finds no evidence to support New Left charges that the U.S. has become a "corporate state." In fact, he says, corporate political power is waning, conglomeration is tapering off, the corporate share of the nation's wealth is holding steady at 28%. Competition, says Jacoby, is on the increase. Where price and quality of materials and manufacturing were once the only factors, mushrooming technology, new business practices and new markets have created new competitive pressures. An increasing variety of product features, services, warranties, credit terms and trade-in allowances have multiplied consumer choices. As a smaller and smaller proportion of personal income is spent on necessities, competition between different kinds of products has become more important (should discretionary income go for a sail boat or a trip to Europe?). In many industries, increasing competition from foreign manufacturers is a factor. Rapid changes in business practices and technology have even made potential competition from entering firms and new products animportant consideration. Still, Jacoby sees much need for improvement. He proposes measures to increase the political power of the consumer, upgrade the performance of boards of directors, expand the involvement of stockholders in company decision-making, encourage environmental responsibility, and make defense companies function efficiently. For the future, Jacoby predicts the continued decline of corporate power as government regulation expands and new, competing interest blocs spring up. At the same time corporations will become more responsive to changing social values and priorities. The rapid growth of multinational firms, he believes, will increase the stability of the world order and promote the growth of regional and world-wide political organization.
Just how much influence does powerful business in the UK have on government decision making in relation to social policy? Questions concerning the power and influence of business over social and public policy are increasingly being raised, not just from within the field of social policy but also in business and management studies and, beyond that, in the news and media. They are seldom answered in any satisfactory way. This groundbreaking book investigates and documents corporate influence on social policies at global/regional, national and local levels. It argues that we cannot understand the recent history and present direction of the welfare state unless we focus on the role that business has played in its development. Spanning the complete era of the Conservative governments and the first term of New Labour, it looks in particular at: mechanisms of corporate power and influence; corporate opinion and influence in a range of social policy areas including: education, training, health and social security; changing business influence on social policy in recent years in an international context; business involvement in social policy initiatives and welfare delivery. By exploring bus
Globalization and Technocapitalism considers the global reach of a new capitalist era, exploring the nature of 'technocapitalism' as grounded in new forms of accumulation, commodification, and corporate organization. As technological creativity, corporate research, and talent flows become more important than ever, this book explores the manner in which globalization acquires new contextual features that will become central to the macro-social dynamics of the twenty-first century. It thus sheds light on the resultant growth in global inequalities and more intrusive forms of global domination that are grounded in emerging sectors, such as nanotechnology, biotechnology and its diverse fields, such as genomics, synthetic bioengineering, bioinformatics and biopharmacology, and related advances in computing and telecommunications. A rigorous examination of developments in contemporary capitalism as driven by the forces of globalization, Globalization and Technocapitalism will be of interest to scholars working in the fields of social and political theory, international political economy, political philosophy, science and technology studies and globalization.
This book examines the manifestations of corporate power in US foreign policy and the global economy over the past thirty years, culminating in an assessment of the implications of greater concentrations of wealth and power for democracy, both in the US and abroad.
The large business corporation has become a governing institution in national and global politics. This study offers a critical account of its political dominance and lack of democratic legitimacy.
This book critiques and extends the analysis of power in the classic, Who Rules America?, on the fiftieth anniversary of its original publication in 1967—and through its subsequent editions. The chapters, written especially for this book by twelve sociologists and political scientists, provide fresh insights and new findings on many contemporary topics, among them the concerted attempt to privatize public schools; foreign policy and the growing role of the military-industrial component of the power elite; the successes and failures of union challenges to the power elite; the ongoing and increasingly global battles of a major sector of agribusiness; and the surprising details of how those who hold to the egalitarian values of social democracy were able to tip the scales in a bitter conflict within the power elite itself on a crucial banking reform in the aftermath of the Great Recession. These social scientists thereby point the way forward in the study of power, not just in the United States, but globally. A brief introductory chapter situates Who Rules America? within the context of the most visible theories of power over the past fifty years—pluralism, Marxism, Millsian elite theory, and historical institutionalism. Then, a chapter by G. William Domhoff, the author of Who Rules America?, takes us behind the scenes on how the original version was researched and written, tracing the evolution of the book in terms of new concepts and research discoveries by Domhoff himself, as well as many other power structure researchers, through the 2014 seventh edition. Readers will find differences of opinion and analysis from chapter to chapter. The authors were encouraged to express their views independently and frankly. They do so in an admirable and useful fashion that will stimulate everyone’s thinking on these difficult and complex issues, setting the agenda for future studies of power.
The greatest myth of modern times is the suggestion that capitalism and corporations do better with less government. The global economic crisis has certainly put paid to this idea. But the massive emergency state bailouts and interventions put in place from 2008 were unique only in their size and scale. Government programmes, designed to meet the needs of business, are not just everyday, they are everywhere and they are essential. Just as social welfare protects citizens from the cradle to the grave, corporate welfare protects and benefits corporations throughout their life course. And yet, in most countries, corporate welfare is hidden and underresearched. Drawing on comparative data from OECD states, this book seeks to shed light on the size, uses and importance of corporate welfareacross variouswelfare regimes.
