Broken by design: the corporation as a failed technology

This article argues that the corporation is a type of technology, and that as a technology it is failing society. The article begins by exploring the history of the corporation and posits that it is a social technology that is distinct in its function (creating profit for shareholders and generating wealth), process (growth and expansion), structure (adherence to a pyramidal arrangement of managers) and personhood (a permanent legal identity conferred by the law). The article then explores how corporations consolidate wealth and perpetuate inequality, socialise many of their risks to the public sector, commodify human beings and the natural environment, and bestow massive external costs to society at large. Since many of these aspects of corporate activity are invisible, recognising them may offer an important first step towards their reform.