Pegg agrees that the findings of the survey are remarkable. In particular, in an election year, I find it stunning that the huge numbers of people working on the American electoral system and presidential politics would be neglecting the corporate role in bankrolling politicians to such a degree. Asked to account for the corporate studies vacuum, Pegg suggests several explanations. Corporations may fall through disciplinary cracks, he says - they are not the traditional political actors on which political scientists focus. Corporations are reluctant to share information that academics need to conduct their research, he points out, and information that is available tends to come from nongovernmental organizations with which many academics are not familiar.
Academics tend to reward theoretical inquiries over empirical investigations.
Corporate funding is available for some projects, but probably not for those that critically assess corporate crimes or corporate human rights violations. There is no question that other disciplines focus more on corporations. There are not insignificant numbers of sociologists and anthropologists who study problems related to corporate power. But the overall numbers do not appear overwhelming. All of this suggests a massive failure at the academy.