This course will examine how corporations have shaped and continue to shape American society and culture. Moreover, we will investigate how corporate capitalism has influenced U.S. relations with other countries. The course will extend from the mid-nineteenth century, when corporate capitalism clashed with alternative ways to organize the economy, to the present, when the neoliberal project faces a major crisis. We will read academic and fictional works, watch movies and TV shows, and analyze works of art that illuminate the history of corporate capitalism. We will explore how corporations have fostered class conflict, imperial expansion, technological change, structural racism, environmental degradation, ideological fundamentalism, among other things. In addition to writing individual papers, we will engage in collaborative and creative works to reflect on how corporations impact our lives. |