Can Economic Theory Stop being a Cheerleader for Corporate Capitalism?

Abstract

In the view of the authors, American corporate cap italism has become dominant in the world over the past 50 years. But modem economic growth and the rise of materialism that it engenders has been going on for two and a half centuries, and antedates the emergence of advertising and corporate control of the media. Roman tic movements as far back as those of nineteenth cen tury Great Britain and Germany have decried to no avail the stress on getting and spending. The authors, in fingering American corporate capitalism as the culprit in the rise of materialism, overlook social mechanisms that have fostered the increasing pursuit of material goals since well before the emergence of American cor porate capitalism-in particular they stress relatively recent features of production to the neglect of fun damental social and psychological characteristics of consumers. Notes