The Ripple Effect Of The Corporation

the singular thesis of The Corporation is that these institutions have psychopathic personalities according the criteria applied to flesh and blood people. this article makes the claim that psychopaths do well within the corporate structure.

as a bleeding heart liberal, i'm always game for some good corporation-bashing. but, this is starting to have a 'jump on the bandwagon' feel. i do find the thesis and the supporting evidence in The Corporation compelling. nevertheless, the horrible corporate behavior that the movie documents proves to me not that corporations are evil.

what it does prove to me is that human beings are simply far less 'moral' than they would like to think. it's not all that difficult to find examples of moral systems in which few of the people who believe in them actually live up to them. throw in the prospect of personal gain along with a comfortable distance from the consequences of pursuing that gain, an uncomfortably large number of people often discover that morals are easily discarded, if inconvenient burdens.

the corporate structure offers the prospect of personal gain (nice office job with bennies or the opportunity to invest in the company stock) while diffusing any sense of responsibility for the consequences of pursuing the corporation's goals. hence, it enables people to behave psychopathically. in fact, it encourages them to behave in this way. that employees and owners of corporations do choose personal gain even though it entails suffering for others says very little about corporations while saying all it needs to say about the moral fiber of the average human being.