Another call for papers has crossed our inbox; ClassCrits IX (“The New Corporatocracy and Election 2016”) is going to be on October 21-22. Like the SALT conference, it will be in Chicago (at my school, in fact!). And this one looks tailor-made for tax submissions. Excerpts from the call for papers:
As the U.S. presidential election approaches, our 2016 conference will explore the role of corporate power in a political and economic system challenged by inequality and distrust as well as by new energy for transformative reform.
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How might a sharper understanding of corporate power shed light on the current context of inequality and distrust? How have legal changes in corporate rights and regulation reshaped political and social as well as economic activity? Does the contemporary corporation simply empower individual human interests, as the Supreme Court suggested in the recent Hobby Lobby decision, or do the legal rights of corporations operate to narrow, distribute, and distort human rights and interests and citizenship? What kind of person is the contemporary corporation and what does this mean for society, government, and law? What is missing from the prevailing legal theory of the corporation as a nexus of contracts reflecting individualized economic transactions? How does the contemporary legal understanding of the corporation help enforce and excuse inequality and instability? What structures of race, gender, and class have been advanced or obscured by the corporatocracy? And finally, what law reforms might best reshape the corporation? What alternative forms of business organization might offer better opportunities for more inclusive and responsible economic coordination? And, how might insights from other disciplines, including studies on religion and mindfulness, inform and inspire alternative visions and practices of law, democracy and political economy that promote human and (planetary) thriving?
ClassCrits is extending a special invitation to junior scholars. Junior, mid-career, or senior, though, proposals are due by May 16. Send your proposal to classcrits@gmail.com.
The Surly Subgroup 