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Corporate Politics in the Public Sphere : Corporate Citizenspeak in a Mass Media Policy Contest

Nyberg, Daniel and Murray, John LU orcid (2020) In Business and Society 59(4). p.579-611
Abstract
This article connects the previously isolated literatures on corporate citizenship and corporate political activity to explain how firms construct political influence in the public sphere. The public engagement of firms as political actors is explored empirically through a discursive analysis of a public debate between the mining industry and the Australian government over a proposed tax. The findings show how the mining industry acted as a corporate citizen concerned about the common good. This, in turn, legitimized corporate political activity, which undermined deliberation about the common good. The findings explain how the public sphere is refeudalized through corporate manipulation of deliberative processes via what we term corporate... (More)
This article connects the previously isolated literatures on corporate citizenship and corporate political activity to explain how firms construct political influence in the public sphere. The public engagement of firms as political actors is explored empirically through a discursive analysis of a public debate between the mining industry and the Australian government over a proposed tax. The findings show how the mining industry acted as a corporate citizen concerned about the common good. This, in turn, legitimized corporate political activity, which undermined deliberation about the common good. The findings explain how the public sphere is refeudalized through corporate manipulation of deliberative processes via what we term corporate citizenspeak—simultaneously speaking as corporate citizens and for individual citizens. Corporate citizenspeak illustrates the duplicitous engagement of firms as political actors, claiming political legitimacy while subverting deliberative norms. This contributes to the theoretical development of corporations as political actors by explaining how corporate interests are aggregated to represent the common good and how corporate political activity is employed to dominate the public sphere. This has important implications for understanding how corporations undermine democratic principles. (Less)
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author
and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Business and Society
volume
59
issue
4
pages
579 - 611
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85062039210
ISSN
0007-6503
DOI
10.1177/0007650317746176
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
d82c3925-46cb-4b8b-9761-b3444506e05c
date added to LUP
2024-02-14 10:39:08
date last changed
2024-02-15 13:13:38
@article{d82c3925-46cb-4b8b-9761-b3444506e05c,
  abstract     = {{This article connects the previously isolated literatures on corporate citizenship and corporate political activity to explain how firms construct political influence in the public sphere. The public engagement of firms as political actors is explored empirically through a discursive analysis of a public debate between the mining industry and the Australian government over a proposed tax. The findings show how the mining industry acted as a corporate citizen concerned about the common good. This, in turn, legitimized corporate political activity, which undermined deliberation about the common good. The findings explain how the public sphere is refeudalized through corporate manipulation of deliberative processes via what we term corporate citizenspeak—simultaneously speaking as corporate citizens and for individual citizens. Corporate citizenspeak illustrates the duplicitous engagement of firms as political actors, claiming political legitimacy while subverting deliberative norms. This contributes to the theoretical development of corporations as political actors by explaining how corporate interests are aggregated to represent the common good and how corporate political activity is employed to dominate the public sphere. This has important implications for understanding how corporations undermine democratic principles.}},
  author       = {{Nyberg, Daniel and Murray, John}},
  issn         = {{0007-6503}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{579--611}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Business and Society}},
  title        = {{Corporate Politics in the Public Sphere : Corporate Citizenspeak in a Mass Media Policy Contest}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0007650317746176}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0007650317746176}},
  volume       = {{59}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}