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By William M. Dugger
ISBN: 0-313-26711-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-26711-6
223 pages, figures,
Greenwood Press
Publication: 10/24/1989
List Price: $103.95 (UK Sterling Price: £59.95)
Availability:
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Series Title: Contributions in Economics and Economic History
Series Number: 97
Reviews:
  • Dugger examines the modern corporation and its impact on such institutions as families, communities, schools, churches, unions, the state, and the media. Dugger's conclusion is that the corporation serves to fill a `social vacuum,' as it `hollows out' these institutions. Dugger's analysis of corporations is within an institutional framework that focuses on the source and use of corporate economic power. . . . [T]his volume is thought provoking . . . . . Extensive bibliography; good index. Appropriate for graduate students and faculty.
    —Choice
  • Asserts that corporate power is the dynamic factor in capitalist economies rather than market competition operating on the forces of supply and demand. Points to militarization, labor exploitation, the federal deficit, and corporate diversification as the forces driving recent shifts in the U.S. economy--which resulted in the deterioration of the northern, industiral 'rust belt' as well as the growth of the southern, high-tech, service-oriented 'sun belt' and the New Engand financial, service-oriented areas. Views the rise of the corporate institution as a force causing social and political change that supports its power. Contends that institutional change in noncorporate institutions, such as the state, the family, and religion, in the direction of countering rather than tolerating this hegemony is necessary for U.S. prosperity in the future.
    —Economic Books
  • Endorsement From Robert Heilbroner
    New School for Social Research:     This is a very powerfully written, very disturbing book about the subordination of American life to the imperatives of the corporation. I think it exaggerated in parts, and I have no doubt that it is not a `balanced presentation.' But I suspect there is enough truth in what William Dugger writes about so that thoughtful people should be very familiar with his argument.
Description: With the continuing consolidation of corporate holdings through wave after wave of mergers and acquisitions, the ubiquitous power of major corporations is of increasing concern from both a practical and a theoretical standpoint. In this study Dugger approaches corporate power as an institutional phenomenon. Through his sharply focused analysis, he traces the development of U.S. corporate hegemony and explores the impact of the big corporation's social dominance in every aspect of contemporary life. The author begins with an examination of the nature of the corporate behemoth, its values and behavior, inner contradictions, drive for economic power, and its unrestricted control of the global market economy. He looks at the underlying dynamics of the corporation's drive for control and the various processes through which its values, meanings, and motives are imposed. These processes include coercion, contamination, subordination, emulation, and mystification. Dugger shows how the careerism corporations demand systematically draws energy and commitment away from family, community, and other spheres of life, thus corroding their meaning and value. He studies the impact of corporate power on the family, schools and colleges, unions, churches, communities, the state, and the media, and demonstrates how each of the power mechanisms is used to devalue and "hollow out" these institutions. Dugger argues that the social vacuum this creates is being filled by the big corporations. Unique in its institutional approach to the rise and spread of corporate power, Corporate Hegemony makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the crisis of pluralism in the West.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Introducing Your Neighbor and Mine: The Corporate Behemoth
  • Social Power
  • Education and Career
  • The Family
  • The Hollowing Out of Noncorporate Institutions
  • Power Processes
  • Conclusion
  • Bibliographical Essay
  • Index
LC Card Number: 89-2188
LCC Class: HD2785
Dewey Class: 338.7
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