Corporations In The Flow Of Culture,
2016
Seattle University School of Law
Corporations In The Flow Of Culture, Greg Urban
Seattle University Law Review
As an anthropologist, coming out of three decades of research among indigenous Brazilian populations, I naturally saw modern for-profit business corporations as tribes—the collective bearers of adaptive cultural know-how. They appeared to me to be the entities housing the culture needed to produce commodities, to trade commodities on the open market, or both. I was also, of course, aware of the legal concept of the corporation as fictive person capable of owning property and having standing in court cases, which I thought of as akin to the anthropological corporation insofar as both recognized the group as social actor. However, it …
Culture In Corporate Law Or: A Black Corporation, A Christian Corporation, And A Māori Corporation Walk Into A Bar . . .,
2016
Seattle University School of Law
Culture In Corporate Law Or: A Black Corporation, A Christian Corporation, And A Māori Corporation Walk Into A Bar . . ., Gwendolyn Gordon
Seattle University Law Review
Recent Supreme Court cases have entrenched a new image of corporate civic identity, assigning to the corporate person rights and abilities based upon the cultural characteristics, social ties, civic commitments, and internal lives of the human beings involved in it. This vision of the corporation is exemplified in recent cases implicating a corporate right to engage in political speech (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission) and a right of corporations to be free of government interference regarding religious convictions (Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.). Although much is being written about the soundness of the results in these cases and …
The English East India Company And The Modern Corporation: Legacies, Lessons, And Limitations,
2016
Seattle University School of Law
The English East India Company And The Modern Corporation: Legacies, Lessons, And Limitations, Philip J. Stern
Seattle University Law Review
The English East India Company was first chartered in 1600, endured until the late nineteenth century, and, in a clever act of corporate resurrection, has even recently returned as a global, upmarket retail outlet selling fine foods and commemorative coins. It has also endured in the popular imagination and culture, churning out heroes and villains alike in film, television, and video games. The script writer for a forthcoming BBC miniseries, in which the East India Company stars as the prime antagonist, even noted recently that the Company was like “the CIA, the NSA, and the biggest, baddest multinational corporation on …
Remarks: The Declining Role Of Outside Counsel In Enhancing Ethical Conduct By Corporations,
2016
Seattle University School of Law
Remarks: The Declining Role Of Outside Counsel In Enhancing Ethical Conduct By Corporations, Jed S. Rakoff
Seattle University Law Review
Judge Rakoff’s remarks from the seventh annual Berle Symposium, held May 26–27, 2015 at Seattle University School of Law.
The Rhetoric Of Negative Externalities,
2016
Seattle University School of Law
The Rhetoric Of Negative Externalities, Claire A. Hill
Seattle University Law Review
Negative externalities are costs imposed on third parties. The paradigmatic example is pollution. A firm manufactures a product that generates toxic waste, and dumps the waste; society pays for the associated cost, including, for instance, the community’s health problems caused by the waste. Profit is supposed to measure the firm’s revenues in excess of the associated costs; because this cost is not included, the firm’s profits are higher than they should be, and there is more pollution than there should be. What is privately optimal diverges from what is socially optimal. The concept of negative externalities is intuitively appealing. It …
The Theory Of Fields And Its Application To Corporate Governance,
2016
Seattle University School of Law
The Theory Of Fields And Its Application To Corporate Governance, Neil Fligstein
Seattle University Law Review
My goal here is twofold. First, I want to introduce the theory of strategic action fields to the law audience. The main idea in field theory in sociology is that most social action occurs in social arenas where actors know one another and take one another into account in their action. Scholars use the field construct to make sense of how and why social orders emerge, reproduce, and transform. Underlying this formulation is the idea that a field is an ongoing game where actors have to understand what others are doing in order to frame their actions. Second, I want …
Agency Theory As Prophecy: How Boards, Analysts, And Fund Managers Perform Their Roles,
2016
Seattle University School of Law
Agency Theory As Prophecy: How Boards, Analysts, And Fund Managers Perform Their Roles, Jiwook Jung, Frank Dobbin
Seattle University Law Review
In 1976, Michael Jensen and William Meckling published a paper reintroducing agency theory that explained how the modern corporation is structured to serve dispersed shareholders. They purported to describe the world as it exists but, in fact, they described a utopia, and their piece was read as a blueprint for that utopia. We take a page from the sociology of knowledge to argue that, in the modern world, economic theories function as prescriptions for behavior as much as they function as descriptions. Economists and management theorists often act as prophets rather than scientists, describing the world not as it is, …
Law And The Theory Of Fields,
2016
Seattle University School of Law
Law And The Theory Of Fields, Frank Partnoy
Seattle University Law Review
The distinction between “material” and “existential” plays a prominent role in A Theory of Fields, and it played a prominent role in discussions at the Berle VII Symposium. In general, the authors advocated the importance of the ongoing use of social skills and the collaborative efforts to seek meaning, particularly in ways beyond the merely “material.” However, the extent to which rules might matter in these efforts was less clear. Overall, Fligstein and McAdam seek to use the concept of a strategic action field to develop a theory of social change and stability. Yet social change and stability are inextricably …
Notes On The Difficulty Of Studying The Corporation,
2016
Seattle University School of Law
Notes On The Difficulty Of Studying The Corporation, Marina Welker
Seattle University Law Review
In the award-winning documentary The Corporation, public intellectuals and activists characterize corporations as “externalizing machines,” “doom machines,” “persons with no moral conscience,” and “monsters trying to devour as much profit as possible at anyone’s expense.” In other footage, people on the street personify corporations: “General Electric: a kind old man with lots of stories;” “Nike: young, energetic;” “Microsoft: aggressive;” “McDonald’s: young, outgoing, enthusiastic;” “Monsanto: immaculately dressed;” “Disney: goofy;” “The Body Shop: deceptive.” The documentary, like screenwriter and legal scholar Joel Bakan’s book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, imparts dissonant messages about corporations. On the one hand, …
March 7, 2016: Bill Mckibben Proves Me Right On Campaign Finance, Though He Probably Doesn’T Agree,
2016
Duquesne University
March 7, 2016: Bill Mckibben Proves Me Right On Campaign Finance, Though He Probably Doesn’T Agree, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “Bill McKibben Proves Me Right on Campaign Finance, Though He Probably Doesn’t Agree“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
March 5, 2016:Will Negative Ads And So Forth Hurt Trump?,
2016
Duquesne University
March 5, 2016:Will Negative Ads And So Forth Hurt Trump?, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “Will Negative Ads and so forth Hurt Trump?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
February 27, 2016: Democratic Experimentalism And The Other Beginning,
2016
Duquesne University
February 27, 2016: Democratic Experimentalism And The Other Beginning, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “Democratic Experimentalism and the Other Beginning“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
February 21, 2016: So How Come Trump Is Still Around?,
2016
Duquesne University
February 21, 2016: So How Come Trump Is Still Around?, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “So How Come Trump is Still Around?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
February 16, 2016:Does The Constitution Protect The Right To Have More Than One Child?,
2016
Duquesne University
February 16, 2016:Does The Constitution Protect The Right To Have More Than One Child?, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “Does the Constitution Protect the Right to Have More than One Child?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
February 14, 2016: Was Scalia A Great Justice?,
2016
Duquesne University
February 14, 2016: Was Scalia A Great Justice?, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “Was Scalia a Great Justice?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
February 10, 2016: Is Trump Back? No. But What About Clinton?,
2016
Duquesne University
February 10, 2016: Is Trump Back? No. But What About Clinton?, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “Is Trump Back? No. But What About Clinton?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
February 4, 2016: Is This Weimar?,
2016
Duquesne University
February 4, 2016: Is This Weimar?, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “Is This Weimar?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
February 3, 2016: Is Trump Going To Be The Gop Nominee?,
2016
Duquesne University
February 3, 2016: Is Trump Going To Be The Gop Nominee?, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “Is Trump Going to be the GOP Nominee?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
January 30, 2016: Journalism Under Attach—Again,
2016
Duquesne University
January 30, 2016: Journalism Under Attach—Again, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “Journalism Under Attach—Again“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
January 27, 2016: The End Of Trump,
2016
Duquesne University
January 27, 2016: The End Of Trump, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “The End of Trump“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
