Allies (Fall 2019) | Boston Review

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The American Corporation is in Crisis—Let's Rethink It

For decades, shareholder primacy has obscured the fact that employees should do well when businesses do well. Now, as that foundation crumbles, thirteen thinkers debate new reforms that could transform the inequalities at the heart of our economy.

Lenore Palladino

With Responses From

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Modern corporations should serve communities too.

William Lazonick

Shareholder primacy will be the default unless serious policy action is taken.

Julius Krein

This is an important opportunity for people of color.

Lauren Jacobs

Is inequality in share ownership a problem that needs to be solved?

Michael Lind

Lumping workers in with other stakeholders obscures reality.

Isabelle Ferreras

The view that ownership conveys exclusive rights is absurd.

James K. Galbraith

Corporate governance is multifaceted and can’t be changed with a silver-bullet.

Katharina Pistor

Expanding employee-ownership is not enough.

Rodney Foxworth 

Legislation and regulation is not the solution.

Martin Lipton

Give employees positions on corporate boards? Too timid by half.

Paul S. Adler

Employee shareholding remains a problematic solution.

Roni Hirsch

Individuals can’t engage in democracy if they are struggling to survive.

Brishen Rogers

Final Response: Shareholder primacy’s days are numbered.

Lenore Palladino

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The Right to Strike

Unions are being strangled by laws that block workers from organizing, striking, and acting in solidarity. Becoming a rights-based movement is the only way to save labor.

James Gray Pope, Ed Bruno, Peter Kellman

Forum

Basic Income in a Just Society

Each week, another magazine, book, or think tank sketches a dystopian near-future in which automation renders workers unnecessary. Is a basic income the solution?

Brishen Rogers

Forum

Islam on Trial

For too long we have acquiesced to Islamophobic government policies. The cost of our silence is now clear.

Amna Akbar, Jeanne Theoharis

Forum

Hamilton's Choice

Hamilton presents us with the Choice of Hercules retold as a choice between two kinds of political life.

Martha C. Nussbaum

Forum

Is Globalization to Blame?

The loss of jobs that accompanied globalization could have been avoided.

Dean Baker

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After Trump

A pluralistic democracy is built on debate, disagreement, and wakeful action. This forum begins the conversation.

Joshua Cohen

Forum

Confronting Religious Revivalism

Liberal democracy requires that we banish religion from politics.

Avishai Margalit & Assaf Sharon

Forum

The Logic of Misogyny

Moralistic or not, misogyny is not about hating women. It is about controlling them.

Kate Manne

Forum

What Is Education For?

Preparation for democratic citizenship demands humanities education, not just STEM.

Danielle Allen

Forum

Black Study, Black Struggle

The university is not an engine of social transformation. Activism is.

Robin D. G. Kelley

Forum

The New Nature

It is impossible to divorce nature from human influence. Can that influence be democratic?

Jedediah Purdy

Forum

The Lure of Luxury

Most people own things they don’t really need. It is worth thinking about why.

Paul Bloom

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