The Corporation

THE CORPORATION puts today’s most powerful institution at the center of inquiry. It explores its history and rise to dominance. And it reveals the far-reaching implications of the fact that, legally, a corporation is deemed a “person”.

But what kind of person is it? After point-by-point analysis, THE CORPORATION delivers a disturbing diagnosis: the institutional embodiment of laissez-faire capitalism fully meets the diagnostic criteria of a psychopath.

As THE CORPORATION considers the work and values of the flesh and blood people who comprise the corporate person, questions arise. What are the consequences—for human beings, the environment, democracy, and the very survival of our planet—of granting immense power to an institution that is structurally amoral, and whose prime directive is merely to create wealth for shareholders? Is there a cure for its pathological pursuit of profit-at-any-cost? Or can we only apply restraints?

THE CORPORATION looks at how corporate culture, iconography and ideology penetrate all aspects of our lives. Tapping into the growing worldwide concern about corporate power, it canvasses views from insiders, outsiders, radicals and conservatives.

Dominant institutions of the past—the Church, the Monarchy, the Communist Party—have all been humbled. The corporation is unlikely to be the first to defy history. So where (or when) is the corporation going?

Over 40 interviews with CEOs, whistleblowers, brokers, gurus, and spies include: top executives from Pfizer (world's largest pharmaceutical corporation), Goodyear Tire (largest tire maker), Royal Dutch Shell (2nd largest energy corporation), Burson Marsteller (leading global PR firm) and computer giant IBM; Milton Friedman, Noam Chomsky, Peter Drucker, Vandana Shiva, Naomi Klein, and muckraking filmmaker Michael Moore.