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Life Inc

How Corporatism Conquered the World, and How We Can Take It Back

How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back

How Corporatism Conquered the World, and How We Can Take It Back

By Douglas Rushkoff

By Douglas Rushkoff

By Douglas Rushkoff

By Douglas Rushkoff

By Douglas Rushkoff
Read by Douglas Rushkoff

By Douglas Rushkoff
Read by Douglas Rushkoff

Best Seller

Category: Business

Category: Business

Category: Business | Audiobooks

Paperback $16.00

Jan 04, 2011 | ISBN 9780812978506

Ebook $12.99

Jun 02, 2009 | ISBN 9781588368492

Audiobook Download $20.00

Jun 02, 2009 | 689 Minutes

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    Life Inc by Douglas Rushkoff
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    About Life Inc

    Now includes “The Life Inc. Guide to Reclaiming the Value You Create”

    In Life Inc, award-winning writer Douglas Rushkoff traces how corporations went from being convenient legal fictions to being the dominant fact of contemporary life. The resulting ideology, corporatism, has infiltrated all aspects of civics, commerce, and culture—from the founding of the first chartered monopoly to the branding of the self, from the invention of central currency to the privatization of banking, from the Victorian Great Exhibition to the solipsism of Facebook. Life Inc explains why we see our homes as investments rather than places to live, our 401(k) plans as the ultimate measure of success, and the Internet as just another place to do business. Most important, Rushkoff illuminates both how we’ve become disconnected from our world and how we can reconnect to our towns, to the value we can create, and, mostly, to one another. As the speculative economy collapses under its own weight, Life Inc shows us how to build a real and human-scaled society to take its place.

    About Life Inc

    Now includes “The Life Inc. Guide to Reclaiming the Value You Create”

    In Life Inc, award-winning writer Douglas Rushkoff traces how corporations went from being convenient legal fictions to being the dominant fact of contemporary life. The resulting ideology, corporatism, has infiltrated all aspects of civics, commerce, and culture—from the founding of the first chartered monopoly to the branding of the self, from the invention of central currency to the privatization of banking, from the Victorian Great Exhibition to the solipsism of Facebook. Life Inc explains why we see our homes as investments rather than places to live, our 401(k) plans as the ultimate measure of success, and the Internet as just another place to do business. Most important, Rushkoff illuminates both how we’ve become disconnected from our world and how we can reconnect to our towns, to the value we can create, and, mostly, to one another. As the speculative economy collapses under its own weight, Life Inc shows us how to build a real and human-scaled society to take its place.

    About Life Inc

    This didn’t just happen.

    In Life Inc., award-winning writer, documentary filmmaker, and scholar Douglas Rushkoff traces how corporations went from being convenient legal fictions to being the dominant fact of contemporary life. Indeed, as Rushkoff shows, most Americans have so willingly adopted the values of corporations that they’re no longer even aware of it.

    This fascinating journey, from the late Middle Ages to today, reveals the roots of our debacle. From the founding of the first chartered monopoly to the branding of the self; from the invention of central currency to the privatization of banking; from the birth of the modern, self-interested individual to his exploitation through the false ideal of the single-family home; from the Victorian Great Exhibition to the solipsism of MySpace–the corporation has infiltrated all aspects of our daily lives. Life Inc. exposes why we see our homes as investments rather than places to live, our 401(k) plans as the ultimate measure of success, and the Internet as just another place to do business.

    Most of all, Life Inc. shows how the current financial crisis is actually an opportunity to reverse this six-hundred-year-old trend and to begin to create, invest, and transact directly rather than outsource all this activity to institutions that exist solely for their own sakes.

    Corporatism didn’t evolve naturally. The landscape on which we are living–the operating system on which we are now running our social software–was invented by people, sold to us as a better way of life, supported by myths, and ultimately allowed to develop into a self-sustaining reality. It is a map that has replaced the territory.

    Rushkoff illuminates both how we’ve become disconnected from our world and how we can reconnect to our towns, to the value we can create, and, mostly, to one another. As the speculative economy collapses under its own weight, Life Inc. shows us how to build a real and human-scaled society to take its place.

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    See all books by Douglas Rushkoff

    Also by Douglas Rushkoff

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    See all books by Douglas Rushkoff

    About Douglas Rushkoff

    Douglas Rushkoff is a widely known media critic and documentarian. He has written ten books, and his documentaries include Frontline’s award-winning “The Merchants of Cool” and “The Persuaders.” He teaches media studies at the New School, hosts The Media Squat… More about Douglas Rushkoff

    About Douglas Rushkoff

    Douglas Rushkoff is a widely known media critic and documentarian. He has written ten books, and his documentaries include Frontline’s award-winning “The Merchants of Cool” and “The Persuaders.” He teaches media studies at the New School, hosts The Media Squat… More about Douglas Rushkoff

    About Douglas Rushkoff

    Douglas Rushkoff is a widely known media critic and documentarian. He has written ten books, and his documentaries include Frontline’s award-winning “The Merchants of Cool” and “The Persuaders.” He teaches media studies at the New School, hosts The Media Squat… More about Douglas Rushkoff

    Product Details

    Category: Business

    Paperback | $16.00
    Published by Random House Trade Paperbacks
    Jan 04, 2011 | 384 Pages | 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 | ISBN 9780812978506

    Category: Business

    Ebook | $12.99
    Published by Random House
    Jun 02, 2009 | 304 Pages | ISBN 9781588368492

    Category: Business | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $20.00
    Published by Random House Audio
    Jun 02, 2009 | 689 Minutes | ISBN 9780307702326
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    Praise

    “Fascinating . . . powerful writing . . . a tour de force survey of the economic history of the modern world . . . [an] enlightening and consciousness-raising experience.”—The Miami Herald

    “This is a provocative and controversial look at the dark side of corporatist effects on our economy. . . . Whether or not you agree with Douglas Rushkoff, you will find that this book challenges some of our basic assumptions about how our economy works.”—Walter Isaacson

    “There are few more important subjects in the West today than the corporatization of public and personal space, and few writers as well suited to the subject as the always insightful and provocative Doug Rushkoff. Life Inc is a terrific contribution to an urgent debate.”—Naomi Wolf, author of Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries
     
    “A visionary work powered by moral passion and resting on solid historical research.”—Blogger News Network
     
    “This is an urgent book. Like all great books, it will open your eyes to a whole new way of thinking.”—Seth Godin, author of Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

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