Life Inc
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Review
“Fascinating . . . powerful writing . . . a tour de force survey of the economic history of the modern world . . . [an] enlightening and consciousness-raising experience.”—"The Miami Herald"
“This is a provocative and controversial look at the dark side of corporatist effects on our economy. . . . Whether or not you agree with Douglas Rushkoff, you will find that this book challenges some of our basic assumptions about how our economy works.”—Walter Isaacson
“There are few more important subjects in the West today than the corporatization of public and personal space, and few writers as well suited to the subject as the always insightful and provocative Doug Rushkoff. "Life Inc" is a terrific contribution to an urgent debate.”—Naomi Wolf, author of "Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries"
“A visionary work powered by moral passion and resting on solid historical research.”—B --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
“This is a provocative and controversial look at the dark side of corporatist effects on our economy. . . . Whether or not you agree with Douglas Rushkoff, you will find that this book challenges some of our basic assumptions about how our economy works.”—Walter Isaacson
“There are few more important subjects in the West today than the corporatization of public and personal space, and few writers as well suited to the subject as the always insightful and provocative Doug Rushkoff. "Life Inc" is a terrific contribution to an urgent debate.”—Naomi Wolf, author of "Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries"
“A visionary work powered by moral passion and resting on solid historical research.”—B --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Book Description
A timely, provocative and urgent look at how our world has become slowly but surely corporatised
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The first point to note is that Rushkoff isn't attacking money or trade in itself: "Commerce is good" he says, "Corporatism is something else entirely". Tracing corporations back to the monarchy, and showing them as an extension of the same power-hungry, oft-corrupt idealogoy, Rushkoff explores the same territory as Joel Bakan's The Corporation and the Yes Men's stunts and films. But it's a vital and urgent issue: how centuries of corporate influence have turned us into a world of "isolated, individualistic people pitted against each other" at a time when cooperation is more urgently needed than ever.
It seems a vital debate as the big three problems of the modern world - poverty (and related conflicts), global warming and lifestyle/mental health problems, are linked in a vicious circle supported by corporations so massive and far removed from their original purpose as to have forgotten making money is far less important than (and often inversely related to) wellbeing and survival. Lives of unfulfilling, unproductive work that we don't believe in making us miserable, forcing us to buy more stuff we don't need made by cheap, exploited foreign labour, in turn using up valuable resources and bringing the planet closer to enviro-catastrophe. It's a circle where no-one benefits other than a few large shareholders, and even they are endangering their own heirs - a non-Darwinian illogicality.
As is often the case, the problems seem to be spelled out here in far more detail than the solutions, but there is the general argument in favour of the group over the individual, interdependence, collective action as well as small scale thinking and personal life changes. There is, however, a strong warning against 'branded movements', the corporate/institutional solution and Bono-esque save-the-world "ego trips" that "are the artifacts of the strident individualism we were taught to embrace".
Essential reading, even if you don't agree with everything within it.
It seems a vital debate as the big three problems of the modern world - poverty (and related conflicts), global warming and lifestyle/mental health problems, are linked in a vicious circle supported by corporations so massive and far removed from their original purpose as to have forgotten making money is far less important than (and often inversely related to) wellbeing and survival. Lives of unfulfilling, unproductive work that we don't believe in making us miserable, forcing us to buy more stuff we don't need made by cheap, exploited foreign labour, in turn using up valuable resources and bringing the planet closer to enviro-catastrophe. It's a circle where no-one benefits other than a few large shareholders, and even they are endangering their own heirs - a non-Darwinian illogicality.
As is often the case, the problems seem to be spelled out here in far more detail than the solutions, but there is the general argument in favour of the group over the individual, interdependence, collective action as well as small scale thinking and personal life changes. There is, however, a strong warning against 'branded movements', the corporate/institutional solution and Bono-esque save-the-world "ego trips" that "are the artifacts of the strident individualism we were taught to embrace".
Essential reading, even if you don't agree with everything within it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A very clear insight into why we live the way we do and how we are manipulated to ensure the march of the corporate monopolies. This book will defiantly make you think.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I hardly recongnised the book I've just read from Peter Haydon's review. Haven't checked all the many references Rushkoff provides for his historical research, but he is certainly not 'ignorant' of financial history; nor is his style 'pseudo-academic', if anything it was a little too journalistic for my taste, but clear and very readable.
Anyway, my recommendation is to get down to your local bookshop and read the last two chapters. The penultimate chapter clarifies many of the reasons I've been dissatisfied with anti-corporate activism over the last few years, while the last is a good summary of grass roots initiatives to tackle the problems. It doesn't make for a rousing climax, but the sort of social and political diatribes that do, (left- or right-wing) tend to be the ones that end badly.
Anyway, my recommendation is to get down to your local bookshop and read the last two chapters. The penultimate chapter clarifies many of the reasons I've been dissatisfied with anti-corporate activism over the last few years, while the last is a good summary of grass roots initiatives to tackle the problems. It doesn't make for a rousing climax, but the sort of social and political diatribes that do, (left- or right-wing) tend to be the ones that end badly.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great perspectives
Douglas Rushkoff delivers a great analysis and perspectives on how we all have embodyied and become slaves of the corporate mindset. Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2009 by Sofus Midtgård Hansen
good read
the book identifies the problems with our current world and the way most of us participate in it however the authors solutions are weak to say the least.
Published on 17 July 2009 by Michael Davey
This should have been good.
Let me start by saying that it would have been better to have been able to review the whole book. Sadly I couldn't read the whole book for the simple reason that it's dire. Read more
Published on 6 July 2009 by Peter Haydon
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