The divine right of capital
Subtitle: dethroning the corporate aristocracy
By: Marjorie Kelly
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
Published: 2001
Place of publication: San Francisco, CA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 231
ISBN-13: 9781576751251
Subjects: Macht; Moral and ethical aspects; International economic relations; Democracy; Big business; Gro betrieb; Capitalism; International business enterprises; Social responsibility of business; Business ethics; Business and politics; Unternehmensethik; Power (Social sciences)
Description: "Wealth inequality, corporate welfare, and industrial pollution are symptoms - the fevers and chills of the economy. The underlying illness, says Business Ethics magazine cofounder Marjorie Kelly, is shareholder primacy: the corporate drive to make profits for shareholders, no matter who pays the cost. We think of shareholder primacy as the natural law of the free market, much as our forebears thought of monarchy as the most natural form of government.

In The Divine Right of Capital, Kelly demonstrates that this corporate aristocracy is in fact unnatural and irrational. She articulates six aristocratic principles that corporations are built on, principles that we would never accept in our modern democratic system but which we accept unquestioningly in our economy. People designed this system and people can change it, Kelly says.

She calls for a movement to build economic democracy in two stages: first, by raising consciousness about wealth discrimination, and second, by aiming for structural change in corporate institutions."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-218) and index.
Table of contents: title: 1.; title: The sacred texts : the principle of worldview -- -- 2.; title: Lords of the Earth : the principle of privilege -- -- 3.; title: The corporation as feudal estate : the principle of property -- -- 4.; title: Only the propertied class votes : the principle of governance -- -- 5.; title: Liberty for me, not for thee : the principle of liberty -- -- 6.; title: Wealth reigns : the principle of sovereignty -- -- 7.; title: Waking up : the principle of enlightenment -- -- 8.; title: Emerging property rights : the principle of equality -- -- 9.; title: Protecting the common welfare : the principle of the public good -- -- 10.; title: New citizens in corporate governance : the principle of democracy -- -- 11.; title: Corporations are not persons : the principle of justice -- -- 12.; title: A little rebellion : the principle of (r)evolution.