CC211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Jane Akre, Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Genome Project
Document Summary
The corporation has emerged to be today"s dominant institution, one that creates great wealth but also great harms. This documentary examines the history of the corporation and the role it plays in society and our everyday lives. They are artificial creations to produce profit sometimes likened to an eagle, a whale, or a frankenstein monster out of control: birth. Originally, corporations were set up to serve the public good. Corporation lawyers gained rights through the us supreme court using the 14th amendment (set up to protect slaves) that gives them the rights of a person. In the last century, the corporation is given more and more rights while people are increasingly stripped of theirs: a legal person . By law, the corporation can only consider the interests of their shareholders. It is legally bound to put its bottom line before everything else, even the public good: externalities.
