Article by Ella Henshaw

Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki on Unsplash

Society has always been structured to promote the growth of the elites, both financially and influentially. Social institutions are structurally designed in favour of the ruling class, meaning the rule of the Bourgeoise will continue to persist, while lower classes face exploitation and poverty without chance of social mobility. While institutions such as the education or legal system also encourage capitalism, attention should be drawn to The Corporation as it ‘begins to emerge and to assume significance as a social institution.” [3] [Carl Avner, The Evolution of the Corporation as a Social Institution] This institution is fundamental in explaining the persistence of capitalism within society, as it encourages the pursuit of profit, acting as a source of investment and allowing businesses to grow and expand their market and profits. Weinstein describes the corporation’s transformation into a capitalist institution as one oriented fundamentally toward profit, growth and creating wealth for its owners.[1] [Bakan, Joel 2024, “Reflection: Corporate Capitalism’s Moral Lack”]

The Corporation has become an essential institution that allows for the maximisation of capitalist ideologies, which, over the last 150 years, has ‘risen from relative obscurity to become the world’s dominant economic institution.’ [Bakan, Joel. The Corporation] [4] Through the governance of our everyday lives, we are ‘inescapably surrounded by their culture, iconography and ideology’ [4]. Just like any of societies institutions, the Corporation is securely embedded and manages domains of society. Though they may not directly control us, they influence many aspects of our lives, from shaping our public opinions using media outlets etc, to impacting consumption habits through branding and advertising. Corporations have ‘ceased to be merely legal devices’ [1] for private business transactions and, in fact, has become a ‘means of organising economic life’, as observed by Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means in 1932. [1] The rising of the Corporation’s influence as an economic institution has encouraged the growth of large companies resulting increased interests in profits.

The Corporation was promptly driven to dominance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, following advances in industrial technology, which paved way for industries to operate on a much larger scale. These new founded, large businesses needed large sums of investment money. As small partnerships couldn’t provide this capital, the resulting enterprises turned to Corporations as a source of investment. Ownership was kept separate from management, enabling companies to be ran by professional managers, rather than owners. Without having to manage the company, investors could buy and sell shares on stock markets, meaning many investors could pool their money to finance large enterprises. [1] [Bakan, Joel 2024 “Reflection: Corporate Capitalism’s Moral Lack”]. In the 1890’s railways became organised as corporations, followed by steel milling, oil drilling and refining, and manufacturing concerns. The growth of the Corporation as a social institution meant that businesses could attract investment from quantities of people, rather than few owners. This promotes capitalism, allowing the creation of new jobs, and the expansion of current companies, creating gaps in the workforce to be filled by docile workers, exploited by The Corporation as a social institution. This expansion also led to the vast rise in products, driving profits from the consumer market, which is further propelled by capitalist advertising.

The emergence of a modern society, and advances into post-modernity has brought about more social inequality, further maintaining the gap between the masses. By giving more influence and power to the elites and legitimizing middle class ideologies, the proletariat are kept docile and accept their role as obedient manual labourers. Passing legislations concerning wages or working conditions creates the false belief that working-class workers are benefitted. Such acts, like the increasing of taxes and raised wages for those in the bottom of the income distribution, passed when the Popular Front came to power in 1936 [T. Picketty, pg. 793] [5] maintains a false class consciousness. While manual workers believe these increased wages are benefitting them, truthfully, they’re more beneficial to the elites, creating docile workers, blind to the exploitation faced in the labour market. Legislations as such are a tool used to reinforce the ideologies of the Bourgeoisie, as the lack of awareness leads to a state of complacency. Workers see no need for radical change, adopting the belief that societies system is reasonable, discouraging any development of true class conciseness. Therefore, there cannot be a revolution as deemed necessary by Karl Marx. [2] This exploitation, that consequently comes from the expansion of the Corporation, is what allows capitalism to persist and expand, maintaining society’s structure. Accordingly, this reinforces the social gap and prevents social mobility, allowing the increase of social inequality within our Capitalist society.

Footnote:
[1] Bakan, J. (2024). Reflection: Corporate Capitalism’s Moral Lack. The Business History Review, [online] 98(1), pp.301–324. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007680523000442
[2] Google Books. (2025). Karl Marx’s Theory of Revolution I. [online] Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5wxVBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA10&dq=revolution+
[3] HeinOnline. (2021). About | HeinOnline. [online] Available at: https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/clla75&div=81&id=&page= [Accessed 6 Nov. 2025].
[4] Kortext.com. (2024). Kortext. [online] Available at: https://read.kortext.com/reader/epub/607073?page=
[5] Oclc.org. (2025). Shibboleth Authentication Request. [online] Available at: https://www-jstor-org.manchester.idm.oclc.org/stable/43185668?seq=1 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2025].

Related