Big Brother and the Holding Company

2025-10-22

This chapter argues that the roots of present-day neoliberalism run far deeper than the economic malaise of the 1970s or the policies of the Reagan and Clinton administrations. By offering a “history of capitalism” reading of political culture in the mid-20th century, it shows how both anti-statist and anti-corporate political tropes refashioned American political culture at a critical moment in the history of the corporation itself, amid the counterculture of the 1960s. Attention to those underlying institutional developments reveals that the same cultural forces that urged emancipation and individual liberty, in fact, hastened the ascent of market fundamentalism and neoliberalism, from intellectual elites to popular politics, even as they nurtured a popular disdain for countervailing institutions like government and labor unions. By the early years of the new millennium, the legacy of that 1960s-style critique had neutered the American Left’s ability to offer a viable, popular alternative to liberal and later neoliberal capitalism.

“More harm than good”

2025-04-17

This chapter draws on archival materials from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) to analyze the evolution of the organization’s approach to the politics of environmental protection between the 1970s and the turn of the twenty-first century. Formed in the 1940s, the NFIB exploded in size and influence in the 1970s and 1980s, riding a wave of populist anti-statism to become the country’s premier conservative mouthpiece for the interests of independent business owners. Its rise, however, also accompanied the growth of the modern environmental movement and the growing public awareness of the problems of industrial pollution and, by the 1980s and 1990s, human-caused climate change. This chapter highlights the potent irony of the attack on environmentalism as part of an attack on “big government,” given the origin of Green politics, and analyzes how small-business conservatives framed their opposition to environmental regulation from the era of Earth Day through the “acid rain” scare to the origins of today’s focus on climate change. It thus contributes to explaining the historical origins, within the business community, of climate denialism.

The enchantments of Mammon: how capitalism became the religion of modernity

Historian · 2022 · 1 citations

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Sociology

"The enchantments of Mammon: how capitalism became the religion of modernity." The Historian, 84(2), pp. 347–348

The Business Roundtable and the politics of U.S. manufacturing decline in the global 1970s

Business History · 2021 · 5 citations

• Political Science
• Political economy
• Economics

As the ‘golden age of American capitalism’ drew to a close in the 1970s, major U.S. manufacturing companies mobilised politically to defend their long-standing hegemony. Despite notable policy victories concerning labour, regulation, and fiscal policy, the self-appointed ‘mouthpieces’ of U.S. industry failed to cohere around a clear agenda to confront the decline of U.S. manufacturing. By considering the trade positions promoted by the Business Roundtable, this article suggests that corporate elites misdiagnosed their own weaknesses and thus mobilised around policy preferences that quickly became outdated. The political and intellectual legacy of earlier battles ultimately prevented the Business Roundtable from developing or defending a pro-active industrial policy. By evaluating this confused rhetoric and stubborn adherence to antiquated analysis, the article highlights a crucial irony at the heart of modern business activism: the very political vision that had proved so important to their initial mobilisation ultimately hamstrung firms’ efforts to mitigate deindustrialisation.

Site downsizing: a blessing or a curse?

BJPsych Open · 2021

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Psychology

Aims To measure staff wellbeing and morale, which in 2015 was described by CQC as 'low', following a downsizing of premises. Background In 2019, due to loss of mental health funding, Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust controversially sold the much-loved Queen Anne-style mansion Lyndhurts Gardens. The Rehab & Recovery team caring for those with serious mental illness were relocated to one floor of the much smaller Daleham Gardens. It was hypothesed by the authors that this would impact negatively on the already unhappy workforce. Method The same staff wellbeing survey was used as in in 2015 (following CQC's description of 'poor' morale), nearly 5 years on and following the site relocation. All clinical, managerial and administrative staff members were encouraged to participate by posting their survey anonymously in a make-shift postbox. Sweet treats were used to encourage participation within the busy team. Result Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the team (response rate 44%). Exact tables will be shown but in summary; in the new building there was an increase in the number of staff who felt they could use initiative at work, make improvements at work, looked forward to going into work and felt enthusiastic about their job. Improvement cited were 'increased socials after work' and consequent 'wellbeing', in addition to 'good team atmosphere', 'good team work' and 'good relationships' in the new space. Further ideas were generated for additional improvements going forward. Conclusion Whilst caseloads and workloads are often cited as the cause of burnout, and indeed other changes in the 5 years could act as confounders, the design of work buildings is not to be underestimated. Contrary to what the authors had suspected, 'bigger' was not necessarily 'better' and a more condensed working environment made for greater togetherness amongst the team. In this age where economically desperate NHS trusts are forced to sell off their prized assets, observations that this is not always at the detriment of staff morale will provide some cause for optimism.

Lobbying and Business Associations

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History · 2019-02-25 · 1 citations

Abstract Political lobbying has always played a key role in American governance, but the concept of paid influence peddling has been marked by a persistent tension throughout the country’s history. On the one hand, lobbying represents a democratic process by which citizens maintain open access to government. On the other, the outsized clout of certain groups engenders corruption and perpetuates inequality. The practice of lobbying itself has reflected broader social, political, and economic changes, particularly in the scope of state power and the scale of business organization. During the Gilded Age, associational activity flourished and lobbying became increasingly the province of organized trade associations. By the early 20th century, a wide range at political reforms worked to counter the political influence of corporations. Even after the Great Depression and New Deal recast the administrative and regulatory role of the federal government, business associations remained the primary vehicle through which corporations and their designated lobbyists influenced government policy. By the 1970s, corporate lobbyists had become more effective and better organized, and trade associations spurred a broad-based political mobilization of business. Business lobbying expanded in the latter decades of the 20th century; while the number of companies with a lobbying presence leveled off in the 1980s and 1990s, the number of lobbyists per company increased steadily and corporate lobbyists grew increasingly professionalized. A series of high-profile political scandals involving lobbyists in 2005 and 2006 sparked another effort at regulation. Yet despite popular disapproval of lobbying and distaste for politicians, efforts to substantially curtail the activities of lobbyists and trade associations did not achieve significant success.

The President and American Capitalism since 1945. Edited by Mark H. Rose and Roger Biles. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2017. xii + 349 pp. Figures, index. Cloth, $84.95. ISBN: 978-0-8130-5652-4.

The Business History Review · 2019-01-01

The President and American Capitalism since 1945. Edited byMark H. Rose and Roger Biles. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2017. xii + 349 pp. Figures, index. Cloth, $84.95. ISBN: 978-0-8130-5652-4. - Volume 93 Issue 2

Land of the Fee: Hidden Costs and the Decline of the American Middle Class

Journal of American History · 2019-03-02 · 26 citations

“The rich are different than you and me; they have more money.” Regardless of whether, per an oft-repeated literary legend, a conclusive exchange of that sort occurred between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, Devin Fergus's book provides a poignant and sobering rejoinder (Eddy Dow, “The Rich Are Different,” New York Times, Nov. 13, 1988). The poor are different, Fergus explains. They pay more fees. In Land of the Fee Fergus writes the history of fees into the larger story of American social and economic life since 1980. Structured around four key developments in the history of debt—subprime lending, student debt, automobile insurance, and payday lending—the book argues that policy decisions, racial ideology, and class prejudices have spawned a massive transfer of wealth from poor and middle-class Americans to an elite few. In the process, Fergus shows “how deregulation has contributed to exposing the nation's entire financial system to unsafe banking practices and systemic risk” (p. 162).

The Land of Enterprise: A Business History of the United States

2017-04-11

Brett Christophers. The Great Leveler: Capitalism and Competition in the Court of Law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016. 348 pp. ISBN 9780674504912, $45.00 (cloth).

Enterprise & Society · 2016-06-13

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