Business and Society: A Critical Introduction - Paperback

by Sonya Scott (Editor), Kean Birch (Editor), Richard Wellen (Editor)

Corporations dominate our worlds. They employ us, sell to us and influence how we think and who we vote for.

All aspects of this relationship are explored, from an historical analysis of the spread of capitalism to the regulation, ethics and exclusionary implications of business in contemporary society. The book also examines how corporate power and capitalism might be resisted and outlines a range of alternatives, from the social economy through to new forms of open access or commons ownership.

This second edition includes new chapters that explore how global crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate emergency have exposed tensions within and among national business systems. It also addresses the need for new ways of holding business accountable in the era of digital platforms like Facebook, Google and Amazon, which use algorithmic personalization to exert private control over the infrastructure of our societies.

Author Biography

Kean Birch is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University, Canada. He is also a member of the Science & Technology Studies Graduate Program. His work examines the intersection of technoscience and political economy.

Salewa Olawaye-Mann is an Assistant Professor in the Business and Society Program of the Department of Social Science at York University, Canada. Her research focuses on heterodox approaches to sustainable economic development through natural resources and monetary theory. She co-edited the book "Monetary Policy and Central Banking: New Directions in Post-Keynesian Theory" (2012).

Richard Wellen is an Associate Professor of Business and Society in the Department of Social Science at York University, Canada. His research interests and publications are in the areas of business ethics, the regulation of digital industries and the political economy of higher education and academic publishing.

Alberto Salazar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Law at Carleton University, Canada. He specializes in corporate law including comparative corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and the new technology; consumer law; competition law; international investment and trade law; and socio-economic analysis of business law.

Audrey Laurin-Lamothe is an Assistant Professor of Business and Society in the Department of Social Science at York University, Canada. Her research focuses on financialization, economic elite, and their impact on wage's stagnation and economic inequalities.

Caroline Shenaz Hossein is an Associate Professor of Global Development and Political Science at the University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada. She is the author of Politicized Microfinance: Money, Power and Violence in the Black Americas (2016).

Mark Peacock is Professor in the Business and Society program at York University, Canada. His research interests include the philosophy of economics and the theory and origins of money. His books include Introducing Money (2013) and Amartya Sen and Rational Choice: The Concept of Commitment (2021).

Sonya Scott is a sessional Assistant Professor in the Business and Society program at York University, Canada. She is the author of Architectures of Economic Subjectivity: The Philosophical Foundations of the Subject in the History of Economic Thought (2013).

John Simoulidis is an Associate Professor (Teaching) in the Business and Society Program in the Department of Social Science at York University. His research interests include critical pedagogy, food studies and Marxian Political Economy.