Corporate Futures: The Diffusion of the Culturally Sensitive Corporate Form (Late Editions - Cultural Studies for the End of the Century) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226504549 ISBN 13: 9780226504544

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1998

Synopsis

As we approach the end of the century, cultural, institutional, and even geopolitical change becomes the norm rather than the exception. Late Editions, edited by George E. Marcus, is a series of annuals designed to probe these changes not through the familiar academic conventions of analysis but instead through in-depth, informed conversations and interviews with individuals at the sites of these transformations. The casts of other volumes in the series include artists, oncologists, Siberian medical leaders, warhead designers, and computer junkies, all of whom take the opportunity presented by Late Editions to reflect upon the great and often puzzling shifts occurring in the cultural landscape.

Late Editions 5, Corporate Futures, questions this idea of a "cultural landscape" by focusing on the the marked investment of corporations in the concept of culture, long the purview of anthropologists and, more recently, those involved in the humanistic disciplines. Emerging in the discourse of the workplace—and traveling beyond it to traditionally alternative associations—is the idea of a "corporate culture" with its own organization, management policies and practices, and ethos. How can we understand this culture of corporations, and to what extent does it reflect self-contained communities or fragmented human existence in groups under conditions of postmodernity? Corporate Futures tackles these issues and questions through conversations with managers, financial and risk analysts, and other participants in national and international organizations.

The results—engaging, intriguing, speculative, current—continue the work begun in earlier volumes to map the terrain of the present and navigate the uncertain future.

Praise for Late Editions: "If the succeeding volumes are as compassionate and informed as the first, this series could become an essential postmodern guidebook to the world's changing cultural terrain. I plan on letting it ease me into the next century."—Catherine Gysin, Utne Reader

About this title

About the Author

George E. Marcus is professor of political science at Williams College and the author, coauthor, or coeditor of seven books, including, most recently, Political Psychology: Neuroscience, Genetics, and Politics.

Reviews

Late Editions: Cultural Studies for the End of the Century is an annual series edited by Rice University anthropologist Marcus. This is the fifth in the series, which will run until the year 2000. The series is unique in its technique of using an interview format to explore some of the more esoteric aspects of popular issues. The latest volume looks at the influence of corporations on culture and at the concept of corporate culture. Instead of targeting obviously influential companies like Nike or notable corporate cultures like that of Microsoft, the 10 interviewers--almost all of them anthropologists--investigate such examples as the success in Colombia of a chain of photo developers called Foto Japon or the lending practices of German bankers. To be sure, though, members of the Tom Peters Group show up in a consideration of evolving management theory. Although the book is filled with fascinating ideas, the stilted academic argot of this series limits its popular appeal. David Rouse

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226504549
• ISBN 13: 9780226504544
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 362
• Editor: Marcus George E.