Synopses & Reviews
Public trust in corporations plummeted in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, when andldquo;Lehman Brothersandrdquo; and andldquo;General Motorsandrdquo; became dirty words for many Americans. In Corporate Dreams, James Hoopes argues that Americans still place too much faith in corporations and, especially, in the idea of andldquo;values-based leadershipandrdquo; favored by most CEOs. The danger of corporations, he suggests, lies not just in their economic power, but also in how their confused and undemocratic values are infecting Americansandrsquo; visions of good governance.
Corporate Dreams proposes that Americans need to radically rethink their relationships with big business and the government. Rather than buying into the corporate notion of andldquo;values-based leadership,andrdquo; we should view corporate leaders with the same healthy suspicion that our democratic political tradition teaches us to view our political leaders. Unfortunately, the trend is moving the other way. Corporate notions of leadership are invading our democratic political culture when it should be the reverse.
To diagnose the cause and find a cure for our toxic attachment to corporate models of leadership, Hoopes goes back to the root of the problem, offering a comprehensive history of corporate culture in America, from the Great Depression to todayandrsquo;s Great Recession. Combining a historianandrsquo;s careful eye with an insiderandrsquo;s perspective on the business world, this provocative volume tracks changes in government economic policy, changes in public attitudes toward big business, and changes in how corporate executives view themselves.
Whether examining the rise of Leadership Development programs or recounting JFKandrsquo;s Pyrrhic victory over U.S. Steel, Hoopes tells a compelling story of how America lost its way, ceding authority to the policies and values of corporate culture. But he also shows us how itandrsquo;s not too late to return to our democratic idealsandmdash;and that itandrsquo;s not too late to restore the American dream.
and#160;
Review
andquot;In this expansive, engaging, and learned history of the ever-changing set of ideas and ideologies which have legitimated corporate power and profit in America, James Hoopes explores the presumptions, popular as well as academic, that have for so long sustained managerial authority and corporate prestige. Because Hoopes is a thoughtful ethicist, as well as an accomplished historian of business enterprise, his book has the kind of moral weight and political urgency that commend it to a very wide readership indeed.andquot;
Review
andquot;Hoopes throws his hat into the ring of books on the evils of corporate America. Hoopes seeks to resurrect in Americans a 'moderate anticorporatism' by tracing the history of corporate culture from the 1930s to the end of George W. Bushandrsquo;s presidency. He divides the book into seven parts that correspond to stages in the evolutionary time line of corporate culture, each of which includes four vignettes that describe a defining event or important personality that significantly impacted the stage. A quick read with academic flavor, this title will appeal to fans of political and business history as well as those looking to better understand what led to Americaandrsquo;s latest recession.andquot;
Review
andquot;Throughout American history, there has been an intriguing tension between corporate authoritarian rule and the democratic ideals of the government. Hoopes argues in this timely volume that despite prevailing anticorporatism, Americans have been in awe of corporations and have placed too much faith in their leadership. He examines the ebb and flow of illusions surrounding business management from the Great Depression to the great recession and seeks to reveal that the corporation is a moral paradox that improves prosperity by subjecting its workforce to overbearing authority. Hoopes argues that Americans must understand the usefulness of corporations while being wary of their power, and must maintain discerning suspicion of corporate power as they have been mindful of politicians. Excellent chapter on critics of managerial character. Recommended.andquot;
Review
andquot;James Hoopes believes we need to understand the differences between valid 'entrepreneurial leadership in politics and government' and tired versions of corporate fluff. He argues that simplistic president-as-chief-executive-officer equations of politics and business are dangerous. This short book is informative.andquot;
Synopsis
At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the legitimacy of American capitalism seems unchallenged. The link between open markets, economic growth, and democratic success has become common wisdom, not only among policy makers but for many intellectuals as well. In this instance, however, the past has hardly been prologue to contemporary confidence in the free market.
Synopsis
American Capitalism Social Thought and Political Economy in the Twentieth Century Edited by Nelson Lichtenstein "The intellectual history of capitalism finally gets its due in this volume of fresh, arresting essays. This book marks the willingness of a new generation of scholars to open up issues rarely addressed by the labor and business historians who until now have been our leading historians of capitalism."--David A. Hollinger, author of Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism "American Capitalism is an important contribution to our understanding of postwar American thought and culture. It will force historians to revise their pantheon of important thinkers for the period. This book reminds us how, in the postwar era, the triumph of a capitalist worldview remained open to serious questioning and alternatives."--George Cotkin, author of Existential America "An impressive and thought-provoking compilation of essays from political and national figures on recent and continuing American social and economic issues."--MBR Bookwatch At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the legitimacy of American capitalism seems unchallenged. The link between open markets, economic growth, and democratic success has become common wisdom, not only among policy makers but for many intellectuals as well. In this instance, however, the past has hardly been prologue to contemporary confidence in the free market. American Capitalism presents thirteen thought-provoking essays that explain how a variety of individuals, many prominent intellectuals but others partisans in the combative world of business and policy, engaged with anxieties about the seismic economic changes in postwar America and, in the process, reconfigured the early twentieth-century ideology that put critique of economic power and privilege at its center. The essays consider a broad spectrum of figures--from C. L. R. James and John Kenneth Galbraith to Peter Drucker and Ayn Rand--and topics ranging from theories of Cold War "convergence" to the rise of the philanthropic Right. They examine how the shift away from political economy at midcentury paved the way for the 1960s and the "culture wars" that followed. Contributors interrogate what was lost and gained when intellectuals moved their focus from political economy to cultural criticism. The volume thereby offers a blueprint for a dramatic reevaluation of how we should think about the trajectory of American intellectual history in twentieth-century United States. Nelson Lichtenstein is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he directs the Center for Work, Labor, and Democracy. He is the author of Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit and State of the Union: A Century of American Labor, and editor of Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First-Century Capitalism. Politics and Culture in Modern America 2006 392 pages 6 x 9 1 illus. ISBN 978-0-8122-3923-2 Cloth $55.00s 36.00 ISBN 978-0-8122-1940-1 Paper $24.95s 16.50 ISBN 978-0-8122-0263-2 Ebook $24.95s 16.50 World Rights American History, Public Policy, Economics Short copy: "American Capitalism is an important contribution to our understanding of postwar American thought and culture. It will force historians to revise their pantheon of important thinkers for the period."--George Cotkin, author of Existential America"
Synopsis
At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the legitimacy of American capitalism seems unchallenged. The link between open markets, economic growth, and democratic success has become common wisdom, not only among policy makers but for many intellectuals as well. In this instance, however, the past has hardly been prologue to contemporary confidence in the free market. American Capitalism presents thirteen thought-provoking essays that explain how a variety of individuals, many prominent intellectuals but others partisans in the combative world of business and policy, engaged with anxieties about the seismic economic changes in postwar America and, in the process, reconfigured the early twentieth-century ideology that put critique of economic power and privilege at its center.The essays consider a broad spectrum of figures--from C. L. R. James and John Kenneth Galbraith to Peter Drucker and Ayn Rand--and topics ranging from theories of Cold War convergence to the rise of the philanthropic Right. They examine how the shift away from political economy at midcentury paved the way for the 1960s and the culture wars that followed. Contributors interrogate what was lost and gained when intellectuals moved their focus from political economy to cultural criticism. The volume thereby offers a blueprint for a dramatic reevaluation of how we should think about the trajectory of American intellectual history in twentieth-century United States.
Synopsis
In Corporate Dreams, James Hoopes combines a historianandrsquo;s careful eye with an insiderandrsquo;s perspective on the business world. This provocative volume tracks changes in government economic policy, changes in public attitudes toward big business, and changes in how corporate executives view themselves. Whether examining the rise of Leadership Development programs or recounting JFKandrsquo;s Pyrrhic victory over U.S. Steel, Hoopes tells a compelling story of how America lost its way, ceding authority to the policies and values of corporate culture.
About the Author
JAMES HOOPES is Murata Professor of Business Ethics at Babson College. He has written several books, on subjects ranging from business history to American political theory, including Hail to the CEO: George W. Bush and the Failure of Moral Leadership.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. The Corporate American Dream at Its Height and in Its Origins
1. The Corporate American Dream
2. Corporate and National Character
3. From Public Purpose to Private Profit
4. Corporations as Enemies of the Free Market
Part II. Corporate Failure and Government Fix
5. Corporate Crashes
6. Managers versus Markets
7. Corporations Blow Their Chance to End the Depression
8. Roosevelt's Confused Anticorporatism
Part III. The Corporation Strikes Back
9. The Right toand#160;Manage
10. Corporations Recover Their Moral Authority
11. Killing the Unions Softly
12. Creating Reagan and His Voters
Part IV. What Manner of Man(ager)?
13. Masking the Arrogance of Power
14. Responsibility versus Profit at General Motors
15. Critics of Managerial Character
16. JFK's Pyrrhic Victory over U.S. Steel
Part V. The Corporation in the Wilderness Again
17. McNamara and the Staffers
18. The False Confidence of the Anticorporatists
19. Corporate America Loses World Supremacy
20. Laying the Groundwork for the Corporation's Cultural Comeback
Part VI. Leadership
21. Managing by Values
22. Creating the Concept of Corporate Culture
23. Inventing the Leadership Development Industry
24. Reagan Aids Corporations by Bashing Government
Part VII. Entrepreneurship
25. Supply-Siders versus the Big Corporation
26. Reengineering the Corporation
27. George W. Bush, Enron, and the Great Recession
28. Can the Corporate American Dream Be Saved?
Notes
Index