Natalie
Soto
English
1
Susie
Huerta
Unit
2- Understanding Power: The Corporation
What We Know vs. What We Want to Know
While some people are blinded by the
power that is given to large corporations, others are trying to understand why
people are not doing anything to stop them from the negative impact that they
provide for society. Joel Bakan a write, filmmaker, and Professor
at the University of
British Columbia Faculty of Law
claims in his book The Corporation
that corporations have dominated economic institutions and the government has
not done much to try to stop them.
Having become a big part in society they are very influential and they
have power in many ways in our communities. Corporations have impacted the
world and they dominate smaller businesses, they lack social responsibilities
and they lack Fair labor standards. While some are blinded by all the goods that
corporations have done other will point out all the negative impacts they have
in the world.
While corporations are impacting the
world, they try to beautify themselves for the community to portray that they
are doing good and that if they are doing something to hurt the environment
they will say what the community wants to hear but do nothing because they only
care about the money that they will be making. Being blindsided by their good
can affect the community because they may not see the negative impact that the environment
suffers. Since social responsibilities, the way that the corporations represent
themselves to the community, play a big role with corporations people should
try to be aware of the problems that corporations are not addressing properly.
Bakan states, “Their whole goal is to present themselves to the public in a way
that is appealing to the public [but] in fact may not be representative of what
th[e] organization is really like,” (57). Corporations
want people to view them a certain way but in reality they are just looking out
for their best interest. In this case people are forgetting the really value of
words and are putting aside what they believe because they hear good things.
The corporations put aside any concerns that the public are facing as long as
people are still buying their products. Corporations are selfish and the public
is not aware of this problem because they are getting products and what seems
to be to them a good deal. In today’s world most people care about their own
lives and what they worry about the most is their own interest, many people
feel satisfied with corporations because they can make them money in the long
run despite all the negative effects they might bring the world. Since many
people know a days seem to only care about the money they value and hide all
the wrong doings that corporations bring to society because they are selfish
just like the corporation that is running the place
Fair labor standards, this act was
designed to force corporations to ensure labor workers with the rights and
safety that they deserve, while people who run the big corporations don’t get
affected by not following the law the only people being hurt are the workers
and that can be a love one or even your neighbor. This is a law but in reality
the corporations are doing nothing to follow it. Many try not to think of all
the negatives involved with corporations and their way of doing business they
are are forgetting to see the impact that they are providing society with, in
fact corporations are humiliating and over working people. This may seem to
many like its none realistic because there are laws against labor standers but
truth is that corporations are not being stopped form hurting their workers and
even the environment. This act was designed to force corporations to ensure
labor workers with the rights and safety that they deserve. Bakan claim that
many corporations are not afraid to state,”.. deliberately grammed, indeed
legally compelled, to externalize costs without regards for the harm it may
cause to people, communities, and the natural environment,” (73). Without even
noticing corporations are being selfish and people are forgetting to
acknowledge that corporations are only looking for their own interest and they
are willing to do whatever it takes to do what they can do make money out of
every situation.
In school many of us learn about
sweatshops, work provided by big cooperation, that provide long shifts no
breaks and over worker their workers with low pay humiliation, and that they
are no longer practice but in reality they still exist. While corporations
promised to stop using sweatshops reality is that. It is against the law for
sweatshop to exist in America but that doesn’t stop corporations from
practicing sweatshops, claims Bakan. It amazes me how the government is aware
that corporations are neglecting humans and are mistreating them, the fact that
the government has to make the people feel safe and protected and are doing
nothing to stop sweatshops just shows to me that the government as well as
corporations don’t care about others just about what they see in their pockets
at the end of the day. Bakan states,” The Corporation, like the psychopathic
personality it resembles, is programmed to exploit others for profit,”(69). The
fact that corporations are being selfish with the communities that surround
them is unspeakable; they are affecting the people that keep their business
going strong. I believe that if people were more aware of all the neglect that
corporations are practicing people will stop giving large corporations a profit
and corporations will be impacted where they are interested the most.
Cooperation’s have the big money and they seem
to be making many decisions for society, they are grouping up with politicians
and providing them with money so that their voices can be heard. While they practice lobbying, pressuring
or perusing one to be on their side, they try to influence the law to be on
their side so that the laws that will affect them will not stop the business
from getting the money that they care about the most. The fact that
corporations have the government on their side that shows me that the
government will never try to provide for their people but the people that give
them money. This just shows me that the government is not here for the people
but for themselves as well. The government is lacking power because they are
not the ones with the money, since they are getting it from the corporations
they are trying to get the power they can by the money that they can get to
have some power. Since corporations use their money to influence others they
need to keep their pockets full so they will do whatever it take to be able to
have what they want even if it mean to exploit their communities and even the
people that work for them.
Perusing consumers to buy new
products that are not necessary without the consumer even realizing that they
are buying things that they don’t need. While the consumer are receiving undercover
messages they are being influenced to get things that they don’t need in life
to satisfy their wants. In Sabrina M. Neely and Tim Coffey academic journal “Understanding
the “Four-Eyed, Four-Legged” Consumer: Segmentation Analysis of U.S. Moms” they
research the different styles of parental styles and how they consume, in this
study the main focus was how the mother communicate with their children. The
researcher’s main focuses were the mother values, attitudes, opinions, and
market place behaviors. The results of this research indicated that there is 6
different types of moms and they all have different, and they all varied and
seemed to be different either because of their race, income, marital status,
and geographical location. In those categories were the balancers: the have it
all’s, the nurturer: completely main focus is her family, the diva:
self-focused, the protector: conservative and with high level of education, the
struggler: wants to provide for her children but her financial situation is no
help, and the stoic: socially and culturally isolated. Based on the mothers
values the researchers claim that their children will be more easily able to
fall in to consuming. Because moms are doing the influencing the researchers
claim that the children are not the only targets but mothers are the ones that
show their children their values in consuming. Neely and Coffey state in their
research “Children learn to be consumers by observing persons around them in
decision- making and purchasing situation, by modeling the behaviors they
observe in others,” this shows me that since kids are the most easily
influenced because they don’t get the concepts they just see what’s on
advertisement and think they if they have what they see they will be just like
what’ in the advertisement because that’s what they look up to. Since many
children are looking around them to see as role models they will try to do
anything to be like the people they look up too.
Chris Preston author of “Children’s
Advertising: the Ethics of Economic Socialization” his research was based on
the ethics that researches (advertisers) face in order to aim there targets in
the right forms. This article main focus was the way that advertisers choice to
focus in younger kids and why. The results were very strange because they came
to a conclusion that they weren’t sure if the advertising was really amid for
children because some can claim that its main focus is the parent because they
can shop and buy the products. Because children are inexperienced in shopping
and may not understand the message that the advertisement is trying to portray,
people can’t really state that the advertisement is really aimed for children. Preston
claims that “Children under seven or eight are less clear as to advertising,
and may over-rely upon visuals,” this provides me with a little more
understanding that since kids don’t really get the real message that the
advertisement is trying to portray they look for what they can understand and
that is the pictures. The fact that kids are only getting half of the message
because they don’t have the right understanding will only give them the wrong
message that is that they should have what they see in the advertisement. Children
are the next generation and they seem to be the ones that will be more
influenced so they use children to exploit them to their products.
Therefor, people should try to stop
all the wrong doings or major corporations because they are exploiting our
communities. If people can come together and try to make a difference in the
world they can all benefit and try to change local business. People that can
become aware of all the problems that they surround them will be able to stop
some and even try to get corporations form doing any bad to the society.
Corporations need to be good to the community since the community is doing well
for them. Once people can be aware I believe that people will stop believing in
them and that will help society, because people will have the power to make
smaller business and they wont have big competitions and will not run out of
business as fast. If the government was to step it up and give power to the
people not just the money they will see great benefit many people in our
communities will be able to succeed in this world. If people where to be strong
individuals we can all make American and even the world a better place of
living. People don’t only care about themselves but what’s around them people
need to start to stand on their own and even if it means to spend more money
they should shop locally because corporations are humiliation and not
practicing the law correctly.
While some people choice to stay in
the dark side and try to save their money and shop in store such as Wal-Mart,
they are not realizing where their
products are being made and what it takes to get them. Cheap isn’t always good
even if it is more convenient for the people.
People are forgetting to acknowledge that the people that are making
their products are not being treated fairly, if people were to be aware of that
problem they will never shop at stores that neglect their workers. Since many
people are not aware of the big problem of sweatshops because they believe that
they are no longer in practice will stay in bliss of corporations and will keep
shopping with them and keep giving them money that potentially keep affecting
their communities. People are forgetting to be there for each other and try to
help very one that around them. While I believe that being aware of the
problems can benefit the world many people will choice not to because they want
what is in their best interest. Cheap prices comes along with bad treatment to
their workers and like me many others will not agree with that practice and if
many of our communities were to come together they will try to stop them and
make the world a better place to work and shop.
