Do moral individuals interact with an immoral institutions and society? Some theologians have argued that point, but beginning with Walter Wink we have the suggestions that communities of people have a personality and will to power of their own, that regarding them as things rather as willful powers misses something important about their behavior. Under U.S. law, the corporation is a legal person. What are the theological and ethical implications of that decision? One legal scholar has ventured to ask the ethical questions about corporate conduct, and the morality that corporate society compels human beings to adopt.
Joel Bakan writes, "No one would seriously suggest that individuals should regulate themselves, that laws against murder, assault, and theft are unnecessary because people are socially responsible. Yet oddly, we are asked to believe that corporate persons--institutional psychopaths who lack any sense of moral conviction and who have the power and motivation to cause harm and devastation in the world--should be left free to govern themselves."
The modern corporation, according to law professor Bakan, is "singularly self-interested and unable to feel genuine concern for others in any context." Bakan dares to make the diagnosis, the corporation is a "pathological" entity.
"The Corporation : The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power" (Joel Bakan)
There is also a DVD "The Corporation" which is a documentary about this book--it is excellent.
Cheerfully, ROK