COMM 407 Critical Perspectives on Business: The Limits of Capitalism Units: 3.00
Maximized output (is) a sign of poor management - Walter Jolly, Cree hunter, Nemaska, Quebec. This course questions conventional business assumptions about self-regulating markets and the corporations that dominate them. It challenges students to rethink basic assumptions: If it's good for business, is it really good for society? We'll use Karl Polanyi's model of "disembedded" markets and the double movement against them, examining the tensions between markets and society. This provocative course probes critical theory and corporate crime. From opioid dealer Purdue Pharma and the SearsCanada/ESL Investments pension conflict to the Union Carbide/Bhopal and Westray mine deaths. We'll ponder neo-liberalism and drive-thru fast food. What can we learn from indigenous land management? Can capitalism persist within nature's limits?
Requirements: This course is restricted to students enrolled in the 3rd or 4th year of their program.
Offering Faculty: Smith School of Business