Liberalism and the Reinvention of the Modern Corporation

Corporations in the United States have for many decades sought to preserve and extend their power by claiming attributes and privileges reserved for natural persons. Liberalism and the Reinvention of the Modern Corporation presents a political history of corporate "identity politics." Wielding arguments derived from social movements in search of equity and equality, corporate advocates used identity-based claims not to "right" historical wrongs, but to peel back popular regulations designed to provide access to healthcare, safer workplaces and communities, and elections free from the influence of concentrated wealth. Looking beyond the courtroom, Kathleen J. Frydl argues that members of Congress played the decisive role in securing identity-based corporate powers. By couching their efforts to assist corporations as "fair play," legislators turned modern liberalism into a strictly procedural philosophy, devoid of substantive claims and uninterested in power differentials. In a sweeping narrative, Liberalism and the Reinvention of the Modern Corporation places corporate identity politics at the heart of the modern conservative movement, the crisis of liberalism, and the fractured politics that define the current American political moment.