preview

The Transnational Capitalist Class

Better Essays

The rise of the corporation follows the path of the rise of Western capitalist society. When industrial societies expanded, the birth of many corporations formed to consolidate power, market share and ultimately, profit. In the last century, the emergence of large multinational corporations (MNC)* has brought both benefits and numerous problems to our global society. The documentary film The Corporation has left an indelible mark on my perception on how globalization has affected poor countries. The film provides a critical review on the rise of MNC and its current corporate practices. The study of multinational corporations have led to the emergence of several academic approaches that question the merits and consequences of globalization. …show more content…

In the “Birth” segment, the film shows how the modern corporation began from the rise of the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom and slowly spread to America. The film shows the early concepts of a legal business corporation began as a government-chartered institution to assist in specific public projects with specific stipulations and liabilities. Influenced by corporate and banking lawyers, the U.S. Supreme Court came down with several controversial decisions expanding the personhood status of a corporation. In the “A Legal ‘Person’” segment, the film shows how American corporations are allowed to legal operate as a person, having rights to purchase other businesses and shield investors and its management from losses and sanctions by the corporations’ actions. Since the United States legal system concluded that a corporation should be legally considered a “person,” the producers chose to psychoanalyze this person and formulate a diagnosis based on their behavior in the corporate world. And this is the central point of this film: the modern corporation is diagnosed as a psychopath since it numerous actions are amoral, deceitful, incapable of guilt and failure to conform to social norms and respect the law (Achbar, 2003) By having personhood status, the American corporation was allowed to grow and take advantage of expanding their markets domestically and ultimately into

Get Access