Corporations and Society: Power and Responsibility

by Warren J. Samuels

Overview

This volume provides an interesting evaluation of the role of the corporation in American society. The book traces the historical role of the corporation. It discusses the corporation's obligations and influence in the policy-making process of government. Business Library Newsletter

The year 1986 marked the 100th anniversary of one of the Supreme Court's most important decisions, in which it unanimously held that a business corporation was a person within the meaning of the Constitution, and thus entitled to constitutional protection. The decision, made almost casually, has had enormous impact on the development of the system of corporate capitalism in the United States. This collection of original essays, written by leading authorities from the fields of economics, law, history and political science, assesses the implications of the Supreme Court ruling from a variety of perspectives. The collected essays provide a thorough evaluation of the role of the corporation, and discusses its obligations, its influence in the policymaking process of government, and its internal structure as a political order.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313250729
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/21/1987
Series:	Contributions in American Studies , #88
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

WARREN J. SAMUELS is Professor of Economics at Michigan State University.

ARTHUR SELWYN MILLER is Leo Goodwin, Sr. Distinguished Professor of Law at Nova University Center for the Study of Law and Professor Emeritus of Law at George Washington University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Corporate America
I. Doctrinal Origins
Santa Clara Revisited: The Devlopment of Corporate Theory by Morton J. Horwitz
The Sherman Antitrust Act and the Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890-1914 by Martin J. Sklar
The One Best System? A Political Analysis of Neoclassical Institutionalist Perspectives in the Modern Corporation by Michael Barzelay and Rogers M. Smith
II. Legal Language as Social Control and Economic Planning
The Idea of the Corporation as a Person: On the Normative Significance of Judicial Language by Warren J. Samuels
The Jurisprudence of Corporate Personhood: The Misuse of a Legal Concept by John J. Flynn
The Paradox of Paternalism and Laissez-Faire Constitutionalism: The U.S. Supreme Court, 1898-1921 by Aviam Soifer
III. Further Policy and Performance Consequences
The Corporation and Antitrust Law Policy: Double Standards by David Dale Martin
Bigness and Social Efficiency: A Case Study of the U.S. Auto Industry by Walter Adams and James W. Brock
IV. The Corporation as Private Government: Democratizing Policy Implications
Corporations and Our Two Constitutions by Arthur S. Miller
Toward More Competitive Diversity in a Market Concentrated Economy by Samuel M. Loesher
Moral and Criminal Responsibility and Corporate Persons by Martin Benjamin and Daniel A. Bronstein
Profit Sharing and ESOP's: Improved Incentives and Equity
Selected Bibliography
Index