Kirby: Sociopolitical Progressive Demands for Sustainability -- What Power Does Investor Interest Hold Over Corporate Private Government?

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In her chapter seven response to critics Kolodny and Cowen, Anderson reaffirms the focus of Private Government as on “the critique of an ideology that misrepresents the situation of workers in the economy, and that is thereby unable either to appreciate their complaints or to generate and properly evaluate possible remedies.” (119)


I specifically want to focus on the argument she makes about the inability to appreciate the claims of employees. My inquiry comes in two parts: 1. Have sociopolitical issues become so intertwined with corporate positionality that the structures of private government have weakened? And thus, 2. Are we remiss to ignore investor and public interest in securing employee satisfaction? 


On the first matter – In my view, the employee voice is becoming increasingly powerful against corporate authority by way of the ESG movement. I am curious as to how Anderson would qualify the strength of the ESG movement: does she agree that progressive cultural demands have weakened arbitrary corporate power in 2023, as compared to when her work was published in 2017? When I discuss this, I mean to focus on hot-button issues such as gun control or reproductive healthcare. I do not mean to discount Anderson’s arguments about the very real and troubling fear workers face in “disciplinary action for reporting an injury or illness,” or other matters. (136) Perhaps, though, the two demand types have a positive relationship (more on that below).


Anderson writes that “existing market orderings are distorted by the state’s prior allocation of unaccountable power to employers over employees.” (138) But many companies are nowadays strategically speaking on sociopolitical issues so as to “keep with the times”. This unaccountable power may be losing the bargaining strength when employers have to consider their corporate position on popular political issues. 


Additionally, public and investor interests have shown an increase in demanding an ESG oriented corporate approach. Long-term, sustainable investments are desired – EY found that 80% of corporate investors report “too many companies fail to properly articulate the rationale for long-term investments in sustainability, which can make it difficult for us to evaluate the investment.” ESG disclosures are now highly valued when investors decide to engage with a company: though this may narrowly mean environmentally-friendly, long-term business operations, such a platform can arguably also translate into employee treatment.


I argue that ESG business choices work in tandem with the internal valuing of employees: how can a company realistically get away with a progressive, sustainable approach to their operations without providing employee benefits? Especially in the times of critical online scrutiny towards companies, those two improvement demands go hand in hand. Are investors  leading the way for the voice of the public, and thus inherently improving the protections of employees? I look forward to Anderson’s views on these questions. 


(EY study: https://www.ey.com/en_us/assurance/how-can-corporate-reporting-bridge-the-esg-trust-gap?WT.mc_id=10821006&AA.tsrc=paidsearch&gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwov6hBhBsEiwAvrvN6IjaYWXOimOwTGs6VoSM0Yblf6S56bHR2bHOvV_pHtOtHI0rxBNO0hoCW2gQAvD_BwE)

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