The Two-Sided Corporation

Corporations present humanity with a morally confusing duality. On one hand, the corporation is an economic engine that has already created and spread vast amounts of wealth to much of the Western World. Through both capitalistic and legal mandates, the corporation has acted as precise and ever-efficient system to allocate wealth to shareholders. On the other hand, many people have noted the somewhat troubling practice employed by corporations of externalizing every cost possible in the pursuit of a more attractive bottom line. Overall, the corporation remains a two-sided entity capable of both laudable good and terrible wrongs.

In Natasha Werther’s case, she acknowledges the inherent nastiness of a corporation. Like Bakan notes in The Corporation, it is an organization that pathologically pursues power and profit. As such, often times the worker can be subjugated in these single-minded pursuits. Werther remembers with apprehension the fifteen cameras that constantly monitored the workers rather than the clientele. With this store policy, the corporation is projecting the very same negative aura of distrust and paranoia that causes people throughout the corporate world to consider places like Kinko’s “soulless.” And as Bakan explains, through the organization and legal freedoms of the corporation, this paranoiac, inhuman behavior will continue to persist and oppress stakeholders in the name of the shareholder.

However, despite the many negative aspects of the corporation, financial and economic benefits allow it to persist. For example, a large portion of people in our society work for or with corporations to earn an income and provide for their families. Because corporations are so large, they provide many people with financial backing and a sense of security. In addition, the multi-national corporation allows people to enjoy consistency. For example, McDonald’s will offer a very similar product all over the world, whereas a mom and pop business offers a product that a consumer may have less comfort in purchasing. In general, the monolithic corporation has a few key beneficial aspects, especially the financial security offered by such an enormous business.

When compared to other businesses, a corporation has many unique aspects that present both advantages and drawbacks. An employee of a small business can expect a work environment that is more flexible and relaxed than what potentially might be the norm at a Kinko’s or a Wal-Mart. However, the aforementioned security of a corporation is not necessarily as a prevalent for a person employed by a smaller business. Because of the financial enormity of a corporation, it is better suited to weather economic recessions than a smaller, more localized business. Some employees seek shelter in this more insulated environment. But one must remember that on the whole, this job security is often sacrificed at the cost of a sense of individuality and the potential for greater reward that a smaller company offers.

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
-Thomas Jefferson