Corporate oxymorons and the anthropology of corporations

Abstract

This article discusses the significance of the idea of “corporate oxymorons” for chartering an anthropology of corporations. It argues that a critical anthropology must consider not only the representations of corporate practices that circulate in public discourse and mass media, but also the specific features of the corporate form. These features include the structural tension between dispersed shareholders and professional managers as well as the contested legal status of corporate personhood.