Re:Corporations are refrigerators
by thepurplemonk on Monday July 21, 2014 @05:55AM
(#8063099)
Corporations are defined by a state's laws. A corporate charter is granted by the government. The reason corporations look like feudal societies is that the first ones were formed by feudal lords to harness the power of the merchant class that operated outside the feudal system, essentially granting monopolies. I recommend the first couple of chapters of Life, Inc by Douglass Rushkoff for a good overview of corporate history
I sort of disagree. The effects of governments are secondary, akin to trimming a hedge. Corporations look exactly like what happens when you have people getting more and more powerful and people who they rule also rule another people. I don't think it's a coincidence that corporations look a lot like feudal societies.