Countering corporate violence: Degrowth, ecosocialism and organising beyond the destructive forces of capitalism

Summary, in English

Corporate violence is a form of organised violence motivated or caused by material interest, profit-seeking or economic expansion. It is inflicted on human beings or ecosystems. Complementing a Marxist theoretical frame with literature on ecosocialism and degrowth, we examine how corporate violence is inherent to and has been consistently encouraged by the capitalist mode of production. By drawing on the concepts of primitive accumulation and social metabolism, we visibilise how such violence is manifested within the productive forces of capitalism – natural resources, labour, technology and money. Corporate violence, we argue, may only be countered in a post-capitalist society where the productive forces are radically transformed. We build on degrowth principles to articulate how corporate violence may be countered and how post-growth organising of productive forces may look.

• Author: Ekaterina Chertkovskaya; Alexander Paulsson
• Department/s: Environmental and Energy Systems Studies; Department of Business Administration
• Publishing year: 2021-05-01
• Language: English
• Pages: 405-425
• Publication/Series: Organization
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 3
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1350508420975344
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Topic: Other Civil Engineering; Economics and Business
• Keywords: degrowth; ecosocialism; corporate violence; post-capitalism; post-growth; social metabolism; primitive accumulation; productive forces
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1461-7323