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

Abstract

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.

Conceptualizing Cuvée Organizations: Characteristics Leading towards Sustainable Decision-Making Practices

“…They argue that the publicly traded corporation is the archetype serving "as the dominant and legitimate form for organizing market-based activity in the 21st century" (ibid., p. 3), and this seems to be substantiated by the fact that 157 of the top 200 biggest economic entities globally (according to their revenues) are corporations outperforming many governments [68]. However, the answers provided by these corporations to sustainability challenges remain unsatisfactory: corporate violence is widespread and takes multiple forms [69][70][71]. It is therefore of little surprise that Gallup [72] measures a decade's long trend in decreasing levels of trust towards the legitimacy of "business" and that, at the same time, society expects more from business these days than simply creating wealth.…”

The role of working-class communities and the slow violence of toxic pollution in environmental health conflicts: A global perspective

“…Moreover, the long-term effects of toxic pollution are often used as a strategy of 'accumulation by contamination' (Demaria and D'Alisa, 2013). By perpetuating pollution and health ailments that affect the most vulnerable, slow violence is consciously used-and even encouraged-to accumulate wealth (Chertkovskaya and Paulsson, 2021). To run pollutive projects, enterprises have used the lapse of toxic pollution and its long-term health effects as a successful cost-shifting practice (Arcuri and Hendlin, 2019;Litvintseva, 2019).…”

Sacrifice and violence in the marketplace

“…This ideology of violent sacrifice has ancient, visceral, underpinnings and yet is also present – in both non-blood and bloodletting forms – in contemporary consumption and markets. There is violence at the heart of modern production and consumption systems (Chertkovskaya and Paulsson 2021; Firat, 2018; Zwick 2018). One needs to look no further than production chains stained with the blood of modern slaves to see the violence in our consumption.…”

“…Indeed, there is violence in the market. An emerging literature reveals forms of violence that are inherent to capitalist marketplace systems (Chertkovskaya and Paulsson, 2021; Firat, 2018; Zwick, 2018). From endemic mental health crises stemming from contemporary systems of employment in which individuals flux between repetition, boredom and extreme physical and psychological stress (Fitchett, 2002; Zwick, 2018), to legitimised sexual violence within online porn markets (McVey et al 2021), and the violent dispossession of vulnerable people at the BoP to enable wealthy markets to thrive (Varman and Vijay, 2018).…”