A Political Economy Approach to the Modern Corporation
Uploaded by spootyhead on Feb 19, 2007
A Political Economy Approach to the Modern Corporation
Throughout the semester we have studied some common themes that seem to unite all workers under different systems of economic organization; the main theme being the quality of life and the workplace for the members of society. Some of the more specific problems we have covered from the political economy side deal with the extraction of surplus value, environmental issues, the trend of excessive consumption and, perhaps most importantly, the undemocratic workplace created by capitalism. In Europe and various other cultures, there is much being to better the economic standards of living. We have examined democratic socialism, centrally planned economies, and most recently, and most effectively, the cooperative corporation. Mondragon Cooperative Corporation, MCC, has created a new way to run both a co-op and a corporation. Its aim is to protect the interests of its workers and its community. In particular, Mondragon has been organized in a way that presents new solutions to these common political economy dilemmas. Through its unique set-up, Mondragon has developed some innovative and efficient ways to deal with these specific problems.
The Mondrargon Corporation deals most primarily with the problems workers face from undemocratically run businesses. The key is that the corporation is runs on a foundation of values that are designed to keep the interests of the community at the forefront of all production. This is an immediate departure from profit driven, capitalist firms. Self-interest behavior of capitalists is the first step away from any sort of democratic production. What is truly democratic about a corporation like Mondragon is that there is an emphasis on equal ownership despite wage discrepancies that may exist within the firm. Therefore, the democratic workplace exists because of “the notion of ordinary citizens controlling the business upon which they depend, thus making a better life for all” (MacLeod, 20). The invested interest of everyone is embedded in the firm because it is run by the workers as a whole. This is the principle of a democratically run work environment.
Furthermore, the MCC works so well as a democratic corporation because it is primarily run by an internal labor union that is comprised of the Social Council. This promotes better communication between management and lower level employees, where the traditional capitalist corporation falls short. This works because in many corporations, managers are in place solely to monitor the work of the employees. In...