Hertz also runs the risk of over-estimating the power of corporations. All books predicated on the threat of an enemy run the risk of caricature. Corporations are more powerful than they used to be, yet my experience of working with large companies is that many are also confused, and fearful of protestors as well as competitors. It is also easy to under-estimate the remaining powers of governments. How that money is spent on education, childcare, transport and health matters hugely.
Governments still have enormous powers to change society through regulation and taxation structures.
Hertz s book gets really interesting with her insights into the protest movements that confront corporations. At the end of it she evokes a picture of giant corporations facing direct protest from an eclectic range of protesters brought together by the media and the internet, often around single issues. This complex ground needs exploring. The protesters she refers to do not follow a common creed. Hertz says she is not anti-capitalist, yet many in this movement are.