Open Access Article

Title: Inequality, precariousness and social costs of capitalism. In the era of corporate governmentality

Authors: Eduardo Rivera Vicencio

Addresses: Faculty of Economy and Business, Autonomous University of Barcelona, UAB Campus Building B, 08193 Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain

Abstract: Historically, the government of large corporations (corporate governance) were transforming society as a whole into a government over all others, inducing the development of a series of government apparatuses and knowledge. Having as a central axis the economy, which materialises in neoliberalism, this new governmentality begins its period of consolidation after the abandonment of the gold standard in 1971. In these almost 50 years, it has developed by the hand of corporate governance, the greatest economic inequality, a huge precariousness of the working class and the strong increase in the social costs of capitalism. This paper describes the process of concentration of wealth and its effects on society. During this period, there is also a displacement of the central axis of capitalism and its system of appropriation, as it was the system of capitalist production, by appropriation through the financial-monetary system (indirect appropriation), together with the transfer of state planning to private companies. Finally, this paper describes the weaknesses of the current system of capitalist appropriation and the end of the Anglo-American financial empire.

Keywords: inequality; precariousness; social costs; corporate governance; neoliberalism; governmentality; crisis; Foucault.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCA.2019.103833

International Journal of Critical Accounting, 2019 Vol.11 No.1, pp.40 - 70

Received: 18 Apr 2019
Accepted: 18 May 2019

Published online: 29 Nov 2019 *