Democratizing the Corporation

Although contemporary Western societies refer to themselves as "democratic," the bulk of the population spend much of their lives in workplaces that are severely undemocratic, even tyrannical. Gigantic corporations such as Amazon, Meta, Exxon, and Walmart are now among the richest and most powerful institutions in the world yet accountable to no one but a limited number of shareholders. The undemocratic nature of conventional firms generates profound problems across society, including domination at work, environmental destruction, and spiralling inequality.

Against this backdrop, Isabelle Ferreras proposes a radical but realistic solution to democratizing the private firm. She suggests that all large firms should be bicamerally governed, with a chamber of worker representatives sharing equal governance power with the standard Board representing owners. In response to this proposal, twelve leading experts on corporate behavior from multiple disciplines consider its attractiveness, viability, and achievability as a "real utopian" proposal to strengthen democracy in our time.