In this thoroughly researched and accessibly written book, Court traces the ways in which corporations have assumed ever greater power in American society. He musters some striking statistics: 51 of the 100 largest economies in the world were corporations; the largest 200 corporations together account for over a quarter of the world’s economic activity; in 2000–2001, corporations “outspent governments by 2 to 1 in lobbying the federal government.”
Court’s central thesis is that corporations have not only gained enormous economic power, but that they are increasingly trying to — and often succeeding at — “corporateering,” which he defines as prioritizing commercial gain over individual, social, or cultural gain. Drawing on his experience as a consumer advocate, he argues that corporations have developed a kind of “corporateering ideology” that is insinuating itself into American culture, replacing traditional human values with commercial ones.
With a foreword by Michael Moore, the book arrives with built-in buzz. Court examines what he calls “corporate transcendence” — the way corporations have transcended their purely economic role to colonize culture, politics, and private life. He notes that corporations spend $1 trillion annually on marketing to shape consumer behavior, and that the average American is exposed to 35,000 commercials a year.
Court’s prescription is a program of “counter-corporateering” in which individuals, communities, and governments push back against corporate encroachment by reasserting human values in every domain where corporateering has taken hold.
“A thought-provoking look at the condition of American society.” Court brings firsthand knowledge to this subject — he was deeply involved in fighting the California energy crisis and has spent years battling HMO abuses. He defines “corporateering” as the act of prioritizing commercial gain over individual, social, or cultural gain, and argues this phenomenon is responsible for the petty daily frustrations — voice mail purgatory, credit card bait-and-switches, endless fine print — that Americans accept as normal but shouldn’t have to.
Court is “keeping the muckraking tradition alive.” The book’s strength lies in Court’s ability to connect everyday irritations and injustices — from unskippable video ads to the gutting of patients’ rights — to a larger systemic critique of corporate ideology. Court “knows how to generate publicity” and his proposals for counter-corporateering are practical and specific.
A board member of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, Snortland writes with personal knowledge of Court’s work: “Jamie Court is the real deal.” She recounts a T-Mobile rebate anecdote to illustrate how corporations routinely promise what they do not deliver, and praises Court’s ability to give this experience a name, a framework, and a solution.
The reviewer traces court’s argument back to the 1971 Powell Memo, in which future Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. urged the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to mount an organized corporate assault on American political and cultural institutions. “What Powell advocated was corporateering in reverse — using corporate resources to influence culture, education, and government in favor of business.” Court’s book is the account of that campaign’s success, and a blueprint for rolling it back.