After the Ownership Society: another world is possible

Abstract

The economic crisis that began in 2008 represents the end of two experiments in social organization in the United States: the corporate-centered society, in which corporate employers were the predominant providers of health care and retirement security, and the “Ownership Society,” which aimed to vest the economic security of individuals directly in the financial markets. The first experiment lasted for most of the 20th century, while the second hardly got off the ground before imploding. The result is that economic and health security and social mobility in the United States have become increasingly unmoored. Organizational sociologists can contribute to a constructive solution by facilitating, documenting, and disseminating locally based experiments in post-corporate social organization.

Citation

Davis, G.F. (2010), "After the Ownership Society: another world is possible", Lounsbury, M. and Hirsch, P.M. (Ed.) Markets on Trial: The Economic Sociology of the U.S. Financial Crisis: Part B (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 30 Part B), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 331-356. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2010)000030B015