THE GLOBAL LIFE OF CORPORATIONS

Credit Hours: 3 · Undergraduate Upper-Level

This course denaturalizes the corporation by looking at its historical origin and how cultural contexts shape what corporations have become. We look at the contingent historical processes and debates that shaped the corporate form over the past two centuries. We then analyze the ways corporations organize labor, consumption, and what counts as ethical business practices around the world. We will consider competing cultural logics internal to corporations, especially within multinational corporations in their different locations. We also will explore corporate attempts to reshape the multiple social contexts in which they operate. Finally, we will examine the ways different social groups have tried to change or prevent corporate practices. The questions we will address include: 1. How do corporations’ social organization engage with the age-old question: why would anyone agree to have a boss? 2. What is corporate culture, and how do different nations encourage different forms of social organization and different work practices in firms? 3. What happens when corporate institutions and practices travel from country to country? 4. How do corporations organize the flow of goods and ideas globally? 5. How do corporations negotiate what counts as ethical business practices across multiple cultural contexts?