Anonymous
Posted May 31, 2002
In titling his book 'The Post-Corporate World : Life After Capitalism,' you'd think that the author would at least IMAGINE a world without corporations and without capitalism. He does not. He can not. He proceeds to knock the market economy, calling capitalism a cancer, but offers nothing to take its place. This book is only a compliation of his negative feelings about the world the way it is. Amazingly, his only meager suggestions are for people to buy from small businesses and to avoid buying from large corporations. He repeats over and over again throughout the book that capitalism is a cancer, as if repeating it would make it so. And this guy taught college? He seems to think that small businesses are not practicing capitalism, and that just because they are small, family-owned businesses are not set up as corporations. He does not even comprehend Economics 101. But wait! He has no quams about mistitling his book and misleading people to buy HIS product. Life after capitalism? Not a clue in his book about that. Well, well, he is a scam artist himself -- himself embodying the very essence of what he would call the evil capitalist: making money by misrepresentation. For a tree-hugger, he does not seem to mind the waste of paper on his book. Don't waste your money -- a meal at McDonalds and shirt from the Gap cost less combined than the book and is more satisfying.
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Posted May 15, 2000
While occasionally bordering on the ethereal (definitely not a word in the corporate dictionary), David Korten not only manages to keep this superb book grounded in practicality, but also uses examples from his worldly experience to illustrate some of the most thought-provoking interpretations and explanations in print today. He takes the outputs of William Greider, Robert Monks and a host of other luminaries (even Adam Smith - the fallback for all capitalist advocates) and adds his own remarkable insights to produce stunning anti-corporate arguments. While some may argue that his solutions are implausible, none will say that he doesn't provoke serious reconsideration of modern business practices.
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More About This Textbook
Overview
* Named as one of Future Survey's Super 70 books
* Written by a well-known globalization realist with extensive international experience in business
* Uses biological and evolutionary principles to illustrate the differences between capitalism and economic systems
Korten examines the fissure between the promises of new global capitalism and the reality of financial insecurity, inequality, social breakdown, spiritual emptiness, and environmental destruction. By drawing on insights from biology and evolutionary principles, Korten renders economic terms and ideas more understandable through the use of simple metaphors regarding living systems. The book prescribes economic solutions to capitalism’s maladies, and provides readers with viable ways to work toward a healthy, sustainable economy.
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
"In his bestselling 1995 call to arms, When Corporations Rule the World, David C. Korten first attempted to raise public consciousness about the potentially disastrous consequences of economic globalization and the expansion of corporate power. Now, in his provocative new work, he goes further by defining these dual ills as a collective cancer that will ultimately destroy the larger society upon which they actually depend for survival.""For 30 years, Korten toiled as a development worker seeking to end the poverty of the world's underdeveloped nations. In that time, he noted a stark difference between capitalism's democratic myth and the reality of social, economic, and environmental deterioration that accompanied such efforts. In this intriguing sequel to When Corporations Rule the World Korten identifies the root causes of these failures as consumerism, market deregulation, free trade, privatization, global consolidation of corporate power, a focus on money as purpose for economic life, and corruption of our democratic institutions."
Cindy Patuszynski
Vivid imagery and original ideas make The Post-Corporate World an interesting and thought-provoking perspective of Korten's view of global society.— ForeWord Magazine
Andrea Martin
...[W[ith thrilling clarity, discusses practical ways to create a just, sustainable and compassionate society. —Utne ReaderPublishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
"In the 1980s capitalism triumphed over communism. In the 1990s it triumphed over democracy and the market economy." So begins The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism, the latest salvo from David C. Korten (When Corporations Rule the World). In four sections of three or four chapters each, Korten lays out how it happened and what we can do about it, using model communities that have already begun to "treat money as a facilitator, not the purpose, of our economic lives."Library Journal
For 30 years, Korten toiled as a development worker seeking to end the poverty of the world's underdeveloped nations. In that time, he noted a stark difference between capitalism's democratic myth and the reality of social, economic, and environmental deterioration that accompanied such efforts. In this intriguing sequel to When Corporations Rule the World (Berrett-Koehler, 1995), Korten identifies the root causes of these failures as consumerism, market deregulation, free trade, privatization, global consolidation of corporate power, a focus on money as purpose for economic life, and corruption of our democratic institutions. His solutions prescribe excluding corporations from political participation, implementing serious political campaign reform, eliminating corporate welfare, regulating international corporations and finance, making financial speculation unprofitable, reestablishing locally owned and managed economies that rely predominantly on local resources, and focusing on service to life, not money, as the purpose of our economic existence. Korten makes a good case, but his solutions won't necessarily fly in the face of reality. Still, his book should find a receptive audience in both academic and public libraries.--Norman B. Hutcherson, Kern Cty. Lib., Bakersfield, CAAndrea Martin
...[W[ith thrilling clarity, discusses practical ways to create a just, sustainable and compassionate society. -- Utne ReaderKirkus Reviews
In the '80s, capitalism defeated communism. Now it has defeated democracy, we are informed by Korten (When Corporations Rule the World). Capitalism is inimical to life, he declares, and he thinks, naturally enough, that life is better. The author, a former Harvard Business School teacher, depicts the doleful condition on our sad little planet. He objects to the wayward thinking of proponents of what he calls a "dead universe" governed by inhumanly impersonal corporations. Midas was wrong. Life and money do not mix. Humanity, as a functioning organism, can make a better choice. It can reject the power of international business, bent on amassing hegemony and cash at any cost. Corporations, to put it baldly, are soul destroying and inherently evil. They are merging and metastasizing worldwide. The unfortunate current primacy of cash returns to shareholders bodes ill. Corporations destroy natural assets and human institutions and exploit workers—this is the author's angry preachment. (The reader must conclude that the term "corporation" is simple synecdoche, standing in for Mammon as Capitalist). Korten is preaching a kind of Zen: We must learn the lessons of life's ancient wisdom and stop the foolishness now. Without a shift to ethical and mindful markets and the local rooting of capital, we are doomed, saith Korten. Reject NAFTA, the WTO, and the IMF as ultimately destructive forces. Corporations should not, as is presently the case, be accorded the status of personhood or be recipients of governmental largess. Economic democracy must be advanced, but can the change happen? The author thinks so, pointing to signs of postmodern populism and grassroots humanitarianism. Staytuned. Less a full-scale program for action than a life-affirming pep talk. An amalgam of physics, biology, and politics, with a dollop of philosophy, this manifesto is as troublesome as any zealot's call for morality.Product Details
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Meet the Author
David C. Korten is president and founder of the People-Centered Development Forum, a global alliance dedicated to the creation of just, inclusive and sustainable societies through voluntary citizen action. He holds MBA and PhD degrees from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a former faculty member of the Harvard Graduate School of Business. He was previously a Ford Foundation project specialist in Manila and an Asia Regional Advisor on Development Management for the U.S. Agency for International Development. David is the author of 'The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community', 'When Corporations Rule the World' and 'The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism' and a frequently invited speaker at conferences around the world. He is also a Board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and a member of Social Venture Network and the Club of Rome.
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