"The Managerial Revolution"

Not a corporate-manager-type book,
despite the prominent pyramid graphic

Political theorist James Burnham published "The Managerial Revolution" in 1941 in the shadow of a depression and world war.¹  He observed that capitalism had recently had a bad run and appeared to be in an unstoppable decline, but saw little evidence that it was being replaced by socialism. In fact, socialism itself, as practiced by Russia, appeared to be morphing into something quite different from its ideals. Stalin's five-year plans, European fascism, and Roosevelt's New Deal seemed to point to a different way of organizing societies and economies around governmental planning. A new class of official, the Manager, would hold power in the coming regimes.

In retrospect, of course, this book overstated its case. World War II ended and the Marshall Plan emerged, soon followed by the "Golden Age of Capitalism," Reagonomics, greed is good slogans, multimillion dollar Super Bowl ads, and of course Jeff Bezos. Capitalism is back, baby! 

But this objection is really only surface level. Give up the idea that Managers are government officials and Burnham's arguments are prescient. Aren't the means of production and vast swathes of the economy controlled by corporations and their officers? Don't executives and billionaires wield outsized influence over the rest of society? Haven't private entities been taking over various functions traditionally carried out by government?²

It makes one think, which is really all I'm looking for in a sociology book.

Verdict: the examples may be dated, but the arguments were ahead of their time. A worthwhile read for anyone interested in society and how we got to where we are. Highly recommended.

1 Possibly a time of even greater political turmoil than today! Perspective. (back)

2 Chicago privatized its parking meters over a decade ago, property developers often create HOAs to privatize road maintenance and garbage collection, and Congress seems to try to privatize the post office every few years. (back)