Join us for a panel discussion with Jim Kennelly, Professor, Dept. of Management and Business; Jennifer Delton, Professor, Dept. of History; Mehmet Odekon, Professor, Dept. of Economics; Pushkala Prasad, Zankel Professor of Management and Business; Maureen Scully, Dean, College of Management, University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Public disapproval of U. S. corporations has reached an all-time high, prompting calls for tightened regulations that would restrict their power, size, and influence. Is the growing apprehension over corporate greed and power justified? Do U. S. corporations indeed do more harm than good? How should we as informed citizenry react to the endless stream of stories about corporate misdemeanors?

Panel speakers will discuss the complex relationship between major U. S. corporations and American society from managerial, historical, economic and political perspectives. They will cover such topics as ownership structures of corporations, the need for corporations to “dress up” their philanthropic initiatives as good business, the systemic corporate assault on labor unions, the tight nexus between American corporate and U. S. government activity in Latin America, and the overarching framework of supercapitalism within which corporations operate.

The panel’s themes resonate with the current Tang Museum exhibition Classless Society. In different ways, panelists will consider corporations as a distinct category of social actors who play vital roles in shaping class relations in the U. S. and elsewhere.

President Philip Glotzbach will introduce the panel, and Zankel Professor Pushkala Prasad will introduce the speakers and moderate the discussion.