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Consumerism

Much as the Globesity festival presents in its visual depiction, the US, along with many countries has an issue with consumerism.  Consumerism is seen to be the rise of desire socially and economically to purchase products and services in ever increasing amounts, often far beyond individual need.  Many have linked this to the rise in the middle class throughout the 19th and 20th century (Veblen, 1899; Farrell, 2005).  The video above by Richard Wolff provides some background on how this issue, along with class, have significantly affected the economy, social systems, and social issues in the US.  Consumerism is also linked to consumer activism in regards to environmental waste issues and product liability and design. Many social issues have been linked as an affect of consumerism:  environmental waste issues, resource overuse and depletion, obesity and other public health issues, child labor, sweat shops, materialism, cult of celebrity and wealth, increased personal financial and mental health issues, planned design obsolescence, corporate and media influence, and increasing deviant behavior and consumption (pornography, prostitution, substance abuse) to name a few (Farrell, 2005). The ethical dilemmas of consumerism lay in the questions of:  why do we design goods to fail?, why do we need and use so much?, and what impact does our over-need and over-use have on the environment, society and culture.

Corporations

In school, including college, you spend a lot of time learning about the structure and function of government―how the U.S. government is organized, what each of the three branches does, and even how your state and local governments function. You study how laws are created and how policies have affected your life.

Interestingly, much less attention is paid to another large bureaucratic organization that today is in many ways as dominant as government, perhaps even more so in some cases. Unless you are a business major, you probably were never taught about the structure and function of large corporations. But over the past two centuries, corporations have grown well beyond mere economic actors, and have become central features in civic life in the U.S. and many other countries―and today, the list does not only include industrialized countries. Moreover, the largest corporations have become dominant actors on the global stage and in many ways the driving force behind global social change.

For over three decades, sociologists have been interested in the fact that corporations are growing, spreading around the world, and some have become so large that the corporate economy is roughly the same size as national states. See the list comparing countries and corporations compiled by the Global Policy Forum (2010): 

 http://www.globalpolicy.org/images/pdfs/Comparison_of_Corporations_with_GDP_of_Countries_table.pdf 

Note that comparing economic measures for corporations and for countries is not an exact match, as they measure their economic output in different ways, as explained by Tim Worstall (2011) in Forbes magazine:

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/06/28/gdp-for-a-country-is-not-the-same-thing-as-turnover-for-a-business/ 

Nevertheless, we can see that corporations are significant economic actors. And, another difference between corporations and national states is that corporations generally are responsible and accountable to their shareholders, while national states are responsible and accountable to their citizens.

To better understand how corporate accountability, let’s look at the structure of a corporation.

Conglomerates

In today’s world, the notion of corporations as the largest global entities is outdated. Today, truly, market power is concentrated in the hands of large conglomerates, a type of mega-corporation that owns and operates many corporations. The names you are familiar with probably are parts of larger conglomerates. For example, in the realm of media, ABC Television, ESPN, stations such as the History Channel, Lifetime, and A&E, Marvel Comics, the Industrial Light & Magic special effects studio and Touchstone Pictures are all owned by the Disney Company, along with several Disneyland theme parks, many Disney Stores, numerous television and motion picture production studios, television stations in major markets around the world, book publishers, internet sites, cruise lines and vacation resorts, music studios, and a number of financial and property holding ventures (Walt Disney Company, 2013). These are more than just brand names owned by a company; many of these came from independent corporations which Disney purchased and consolidated into a large conglomerate. For example, ABC used to be an independent network, but Disney purchased ABC in 1996. Likewise, Industrial Light & Magic used to be part of LucasFilm, started by film director George Lucas. Disney purchased LucasFilm and all of its holdings in 2012.

The Disney Corporation is not the only media conglomerate. Time Warner, Inc. is another example. This company began as a publishing company (Time magazine, Life Magazine, Sports Illustrated, People magazine) and a movie studio (Warner Bros.), which merged, and eventually purchased Turner Broadcasting (TBS, TNT, CNN, Cartoon Network), and later internet giant AOL. Some of these have been spun off into independent companies, but Time Warner still owns many brands, including HBO, Castle Rock and New Line Cinema movies, Hanna Barbera animation, and numerous magazines and television stations in the U.S. and overseas.

References

Farrell, J (2005)  Empire of Scrounge.  NYU Press: New York.  Global Policy Forum. (2010). Comparison of the world’s 25 largest corporations with the GDP of selected countries (2010). Retrieved from http://www.globalpolicy.org/images/pdfs/ Comparison_of_Corporations_with_GDP_of_Countries_table.pdf.

Time Warner, Inc. (2013). Our content. Retrieved from http://www.timewarner.com/our-content.

Veblen, T. (1899)  The Theory of the Leisure Class:  an economic study of institutions.  Dover Publications: Mineola, NY. Walt Disney Company. (2013). Company overview. Retrieved from http://thewaltdisney company.com/about-disney/company-overview

Worstall, T. (2011, June 28). GDP for a country is not the same thing as turnover for a business. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/06/28/gdp-for-a-country-is-not-the-same-thing-as-turnover-for-a-business/.