ATS2199 Communication, cultures and the corporate world

This unit examines the relationship between humans, cultures and the corporation. Relying on anthropological and linguistic analysis of corporate activity in western and non-western settings, the unit examines the nature of sociability inherent to the corporation, and the effects corporations have upon culture and social life. Topics covered may include: the differing forms and meanings of corporations across cultures; the changing relations between humans and corporations, and their implications for understandings of human subjectivity; different forms of speech and language used within corporate settings; the ways in which social facts such as kinship and gender shape and are shaped by corporations. Drawing on ethnographic case studies as well as anthropological frameworks, the unit approaches corporations not as givens, but as social products that can be compared to other cultural forms. 

Proposed modules:

1. Two-week introduction to corporations as legal entities, and the history of the concept.
2. Corporate speak: linguistic interactions between the corporation and the world.
3. Kinship and corporations; to what degree are corporations reflective of traditional kinship relations, and how does this impact succession? To what degree are marginalised people excluded by processes of corporate succession?  
4. Culture clash and the corporations: how have global communities reacted and adjusted to the “arrival” of the corporation into social life?