QuoteProject
Corporations are totalitarian institutions. Board of directors at the top of managers give orders, everyone follows orders..... At the very bottom of command, if you are lucky you can rent yourself to it and get a job , and if you are sufficiently propagandized you may even buy some of the junk they produce and so on.
Noam Chomsky
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote critiques the hierarchical and authoritarian structure of corporations, suggesting they operate like totalitarian regimes.

Noam Chomsky's quote highlights the authoritarian nature of corporations, depicting them as totalitarian institutions that impose a rigid hierarchy. He points out that at the top are the decision-makers, while the majority of workers have little autonomy, merely following orders without significant input. The implication is that individuals at the bottom of the corporate structure are often left with limited choices and may even become complicit in supporting the very system that restricts them.

Themes

CorporationsTotalitarianHierarchyPowerControlPropaganda

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion on corporate ethics, this quote can illustrate the dangers of unchecked corporate power.

More from Noam Chomsky

There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
Noam ChomskyRead
The 'free-floating intellectual' may occupy himself with problems because of their inherent interest and importance, perhaps to little effect.
Noam ChomskyRead
If you're teaching today what you were teaching five years ago, either the field is dead or you are.
Noam ChomskyRead
There are very few people who are going to look into the mirror and say, 'That person I see is a savage monster;' instead, they make up some construction that justifies what they do.
Noam ChomskyRead
The Republican Party has become overwhelmingly so extreme that it's hardly a traditional political party anymore.
Noam ChomskyRead
There is still much debate about whether torture has been effective in eliciting information - the assumption being, apparently, that if it is effective, then it may be justified.
Noam ChomskyRead

Similar quotes

Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? Art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul?
Marcus AureliusRead
I think it's important to remember that people don't set their lives on fire. They don't walk away from their extraordinarily, extraordinarily comfortable lives ... for no reason.
Edward SnowdenRead
God is the Great Engineer, creating circumstances to bring about moments in our lives of divine importance, leading us to divine appointments
Oswald ChambersRead
A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
We are called to reach out to those who find themselves in the existential peripheries of our societies and to show particular solidarity with the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters: the poor, the disabled, the unborn and the sick, migrants and refugees, the elderly and the young who lack employment.
Pope FrancisRead
If we are concerned about the exploitation of human workers in countries with low standards of worker protection, we should also be concerned about the treatment of even more defenceless non-human animals.
Peter SingerRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.