The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism

by David C. Korten

Book Overview

A noted social critic offers a practical, human-centered alternative to global capitalism run amok and advocates a global network of small-scale market economies that empower citizens and embrace... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1576750515
• ISBN13: 9781576750513
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Capitalism Is Cancer

Many people have winced at Korton's now ecological turn. They would rather he simply kept to pure economics, facts and theories, and dump the New Age spin he picked up from biologist Mae-Wan Ho. They were hoping that "The Post-Corporate World" would simply be Part II of his last sizzler, "When Corporations Ruled the World." They see the soft-headed ecological metaphor as a meaningless distraction that will only serve the interests of the enemy -- i.e., number-crunching CEOs, who have no time (after all, time is money) for ecological quackery. In my opinion, "When Corporations Ruled the World" does not need a sequel. It did the job perfectly. Nor will taking a simply factual stand against the global corporate juggernaut fundamentally alter things. This is what Korten is driving at in his book. He believees we need to understand the world on radically different terms. We need to approach reality with a new story and a new bag of metaphors -- because the old ones have not been doing the job. If you simply want a truckload of facts disavowing capitalism's ability to meet human needs (and by that, I mean all humans -- not just 1 percent of the population), read his first book. It will not only alarm you, but it will arm you to the hilt with anti-corporate firepower for the next time you enter a debate on capitalism's merits. If you want a richer analysis of the inherent paradoxes of capitalism, and a more thorough understanding of what is necessary to remedy the current situation, read this book. The books serve two different functions: The last book was by and large descriptive, whereas this book is heavy on prescription. Despite what our hard-headed, number-crunching economists might tell you, capitalism is indeed a lot like a cancer. "Cancer occurs when genetic damage causes a cell to forget that it is part of a larger body, the healthy function of which is essential to its own survival. The cell begins to seek its own growth without regard to the consequences for the whole, and ultimately destroys the body that feeds it. As I came to learn more about the course of cancer's development within the body, I cam to realize that the reference to capitalism as a cancer is less a metaphor than a clinical diagnosis of a pathology to which market economic are prone in the absence of adequate citizen and governmental oversight." In her ground-breaking book, "If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth," the now-famous physicist Helen Caldicott wrote, "as a physician I examine the dying planet as do a dying patient. The earth has a natural system of interacting homeostatic mechanisms similar to the human body's. If one system is diseased, like the ozone layer, then other systems develop abnormalities in function-the crops will die, the plankton will be damaged, and the eyes of all creatures on the planet will become diseased and vision impaired. "We must have the tenacity and courage to examine the various disease processes afflict

Extraordinary

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.

Thouroughly in-depth, thought-provoking wakeup call

In When Corporations Rule the World David Korten spoke of "market tyranny" as being the primary threat to our current and future survival. In The Post-Corporate World he argues the problem is not so much the market, but more specifically capitalism, as the threat to a healthy market economy. His thoroughly in-depth and thought-provoking analysis provides a perfect sequel to his previous best seller. It is a must read for those who wish to cure our current unstable economic system and stop our unsustainable development spiral. Korten carefully dissects these and other critical issues in an attempt to "restore democracy, the market, and our human rights." Korten's recipe for long-term survival is detailed in a clear and powerful manner. Based on his many years working abroad and in academia, he describes specific steps that will require "virtually eliminating...the limited-liability for-profit public corporation as we know it." These steps are a paradigm shift from the status quo, yet are logically thought out and are realistically achievable in our lifetimes. The Post-Corporate World is a wakeup call for all of us. It provides the blueprint and framework for a future we need to start work on now.

Very encouraging -Take 2

Less an etched-in-stone, deterministic prophecy than a playful exercise in new metaphors for economic thinking, The Post-Corporate World would take creative thinkers and doers to a new level of coherence in their economic worldview. The book is for people who feel that there is something fundamentally inhuman in the current social "operating system", but who are looking for structural clarity in their thinking, new ways to articulate what they feel is going on, and possible courses for action. It will not satisfy armchair pundits looking for dirt on the deeds of corporations and their political servants, or those who seek a revelation of the exact future form of society (a la Marx).Korten [MBA & PhD, Stanford Graduate School of Business] was for twenty-five years a development officer for American agencies in the third world, and demonstrates intimate knowledge of the structure, history, and practice of international capitalism--particularly in its nobler intentions. His focus in this book, however, is the worldview of ordinary people which brings them to accept the inevitability of exploitation and distant, unaccountable ownership-- and how that worldview seems to be changing. Korten here should properly be compared not to academic theorists, but to generalist thinkers such as Rousseau and Thoreau who write from an intuitive feeling about life, sharpened by observations about the larger society and a strong knowledge of the history of thought.KortenÕs central assertion is that people's economic thought has always been based on their feelings and theories about how Nature works. He argues that our acceptance of the current economy rests on everyone's willingness to believe that natural life is fundamentally a dog-eat-dog competition, as implied by thinkers like Thomas Hobbes and the 19th century promoters of "social Darwinism." The scientific assumption that life evolves, through ruthless competition, towards a positive victory for the "more evolved" species also underlies Karl Marx's theory of the "inevitable" dictatorship of the proletariat.As readers may know, 20th century biologists have considerably revised their hypotheses about life's evolution and interrelation. While the model of "winner-take-all" evolution may be true for two wolves fighting for the leadership of a pack, it does not at all apply to life's larger processes. Biologists now describe how species evolve more or less cooperatively to fill available niches amongst other life forms. ÒWinner-take-allÓ competitions for scarce resources usually lead to imbalance and catastrophe. The planet we love is a place where all the species of an ecosystem, from bacteria on up, have evolved to benefit most from the independence and interdependence of all the others, in a situation of innovation, dynamic balance, and observance of borders. KortenÕs hope is that biologyÕs recent findings about healthy ecosystems might clarify our visions of a healthy e

Provocative, insightful, engrossing critique of capitalism.

In this provocative book, Korten argues that capitalism is not, as claimed, the engine of wealth creation and champion of democracy and the free market but conversely, it is undermining each of these due to weak public policy and oversight. His analysis probes the problems of society that lie beneath the current strong economy, including poverty, social breakdown, spiritual emptiness, and environmental destruction. He finds corporations are consolidating power on a global level that is eclipsing nations. Korten suggests that the alternative to the current situation is the emergence of a new global system of democratic market economies that are true to the market ideals set forth by Adam Smith. An engrossing book providing important insights and sure to be controversial.