Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling author of The Industries of the Future offers a gripping, accessible account of how huge corporations have started acting like nations and how everyday people can help repair the fragile power balance between government and business.
Starting with the industrial revolution, companies have held the power to shape our daily lives in ways both positive and negative, while the state held the power to make them fall in line, and the people held the power to choose their leaders. This compact, through ups and downs, stood firm for 150 years. But in the latest wave of globalization, the balance has shaken loose.
As the market consolidates under fewer and larger companies, the line between Walmart and the Halls of Congress has become razor thin. It's in the interest of private companies to behave like nations--to invest in defense, foreign contracts, data mining, and intelligence. And when the government is bogged down in bureaucratic negotiations and partisan wars, unable to act on healthcare, wage increases, and climate change, people begin to look to nimble, powerful companies to solve these problems--and to be our moral standard-bearers. But all is not lost. As Walter Isaacson said about Alec Ross's first book, The future is already hitting us, and Ross shows how it can be exciting rather than frightening."
Ross weaves interviews with the world's most influential thinkers into fascinating stories of corporate activism and malfeasance, government failure and renewal, and innovative economic and political models being implemented around the world, to propose a new social contract--one that benefits workers and everyday citizens in the face of unprecedented global change.
Synopsis
In the face of unprecedented global change, New York Times bestselling author Alec Ross proposes a new social contract to restore the balance of power between government, citizens, and business.
For 150 years, there has been a contract. Companies hold the power to shape our daily lives. The state holds the power to make them fall in line. And the people hold the power to choose their leaders. But now, this balance has shaken loose.
As the market consolidates, the lines between Walmart and the Halls of Congress have become razor-thin. Private companies have begun to behave like nations, and with the government bogged down in bureaucratic negotiations and partisan wars, people look to nimble, powerful firms to solve societal problems--and to be our moral standard-bearers. As Walter Isaacson said about Ross's first book, "The future is already hitting us, and Ross shows how it can be exciting rather than frightening."
Through interviews with the world's most influential thinkers and stories of corporate activism and malfeasance, government failure and renewal, and innovative economic and political models, Ross proposes a new social contract--one that resets the equilibrium between corporations, the governing, and the governed.