From Corporal to Corporate: Defining the Body Politic in the Twenty-First Century
The following research project illustrates a transition of the body politic metaphor from the second century AD. to present day. From this historical perspective it can be shown that a new body politic exists within Western, capitalist systems with the corporation serving as the head of the body and its buyers, the appendages. This paper claims that as with the previously accepted analogies of the body politic ("The Lord's Two Bodies," "The King's Two Bodies," and the body politic composed by consent of the governed) this corporate driven body possesses four key features that define all three previous manifestations: a sovereign head, an immortal sense of power possessed by the sovereign, an intangible body and a sacrifice required of members in order to join the body. Through a historical examination of the corporation, as well as a case study of Apple, Inc., it can be shown that the modem corporate body politic not only exists but possesses immense power. This power creates complex interactions between consumer and corporate, as well as corporate and laborer. Such relationships shed light on not only the authority of the global corporation but the overall power structure of the late capitalist system. 1
Political Science, Social and Behavioral Sciences
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