# Could courporatism work in America? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 14, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032 "2012-12-14T15:54:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/1 "2012-12-14T15:54:17Z")
As I’ve been taking poli sci classes, its pretty shocking how much business is intertwined with government in Europe and…it seems to be working… I don’t know. While on one hand I get the argument that most corporations are super super evil and government shouldn’t let them within 500 feet of capitol building, it seems to be working really well for Germany, France, and the UK to have business and the executive closely tied to each other. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/2 "2012-12-14T15:56:39Z")
Wait, first of all let’s define terms. By “corporatism” do you mean “corporatocracy,” that is, a system where business corporations mostly set the government agenda? Or, do you mean [what political scientists mean by “corporatism”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism)? ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/3 "2012-12-14T16:00:04Z")
**Corporatism** : In Europe, arrangements through which government, business, and labor leaders cooperatively set micro or macroeconomic policy, normally outside of the regular electoral legislative process. To be more specific: This isn’t a government run by corporations. This is more one-in-the-same with socialism where iron triangles are very strong and government owns a decent amount of businesses (though not the majority, by far). ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/4 "2012-12-14T16:06:16Z")
I can’t spell today. If a mod could change the title to read “corporatism” instead of “courporatism” that’d be amazing. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/5 "2012-12-15T15:28:23Z")
I think etatism would probably be preferred. ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/6 "2012-12-16T00:58:00Z")
Well, don’t we kind of have etatism? Its just everyone’s goals are different… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/7 "2012-12-16T01:31:33Z")
We already have this system. We just pretend we don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/8 "2012-12-16T01:50:21Z")
No way, we can’t have powerful corporate interests controlling parts of our government. That’d be madness. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/9 "2012-12-16T11:07:21Z")
> [@Oedipus](#): > > **Corporatism** : In Europe, arrangements through which government, business, and labor leaders cooperatively set micro or macroeconomic policy,… It might work in the U.S. Which labor leaders would you add to the current system in order to bring it about? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/10 "2012-12-18T22:55:09Z")
Say, [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism#Progressive_corporatism) is interesting: > [@](#): > > The idea of liberal corporatism has also been attributed to English liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill who discussed corporatist-like economic associations as needing to “predominate” in society to create equality for labourers and give them influence with management by economic democracy.[27] Unlike some other types of corporatism, liberal corporatism does not reject capitalism or individualism, but believes that the capitalist companies are social institutions that should require their managers to do more than maximize net income, by recognizing the needs of their employees.[28] > > This liberal corporatist ethic is similar to Taylorism but endorses democratization of capitalist companies.[28] Liberal corporatists believe that inclusion of all members in the election of management in effect reconciles “ethics and efficiency, freedom and order, liberty and rationality”.[28] Liberal corporatism began to gain disciples in the United States during the late 19th century.[4] > > Liberal corporatism was an influential component of the Progressivism in the United States that has been referred to as “interest group liberalism”.[29] The support by U.S. labor representatives of liberal corporatism of the U.S. progressives is believed to have been influenced by the syndicalism and particularly the anarcho-syndicalism at the time in Europe.[29] In the United States, economic corporatism involving capital-labour cooperation was influential in the New Deal economic program of the United States in the 1930s as well as in Keynesianism and even Fordism.[20] ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/11 "2012-12-20T06:37:01Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > We already have this system. We just pretend we don’t. > [@Ethilrist](#): > > No way, we can’t have powerful corporate interests controlling parts of our government. That’d be madness. Would either (or both) of you be kind enough to define what you mean by ‘corporatism’? Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/12 "2012-12-20T13:27:55Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > No way, we can’t have powerful corporate interests controlling parts of our government. That’d be madness. > [@TriPolar](#): > > We already have this system. We just pretend we don’t. Thats what baffles me so much. How can it work out pretty well for Germany/France and it sound like such a disasterous plan here? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-courporatism-work-in-america/644032/13 "2012-12-20T15:21:14Z")
Look, [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism) is corporatism: > [@](#): > > **Corporatism,** also known as **corporativism** has more than one meaning. It may refer to political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labour, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common interests.[1] Corporatism is theoretically based upon the interpretation of a community as an organic body.[2][3] The term corporatism is based on the Latin root word “corpus” (plural – “corpora”) meaning “body”.[3] > > In 1881, Pope Leo XIII commissioned theologians and social thinkers to study corporatism and provide a definition for it. In 1884 in Freiburg, the commission declared that corporatism was a “system of social organization that has at its base the grouping of men according to the community of their natural interests and social functions, and as true and proper organs of the state they direct and coordinate labor and capital in matters of common interest”[4]. > > Corporatism is related to the sociological concept of structural functionalism.[5] Corporate social interaction is common within kinship groups such as families, clans and ethnicities.[6] Aside from humans, certain animal species are known to exhibit strong corporate social organization, such as penguins.[7][8] Corporatist types of community and social interaction are common to many ideologies, including: absolutism, capitalism, conservatism, fascism, liberalism, progressivism, reactionism, socialism, and syndicalism.[9] > > Corporatism may also refer to economic tripartism involving negotiations between business, labour, and state interest groups to establish economic policy.[10] This is sometimes also referred to as neo-corporatism. N.B.: The “more than one meaning” of the word does **not** include rule/predominance of the state by business corporations. Now, the obvious conceptual flaw in corporatism as defined above is that it assumes the society/economy to be a roughly-finished product that only needs proper organization of its essential parts. Once the system is established, with each economic sector having its own guild or corporation, how does some **new** industry, such as IT, fit into the system? Does the system even encourage it?