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Big Business and Fascism
Big Business and Fascism
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04259-9
ORIGINAL PAPER
Abstract
Anxieties stemming from rising inequalities have led significant sections of the world’s population to reject democratic
practices and place their trust in politicians with fascist tendencies who promise to wrest control of their destinies from
elites. Ironically, elite interests, far from being threatened, are bolstered by the rise of fascism, as discredited democratic
institutions can be dismantled with impunity. The emerging alliance between the neoliberal project and fascist politics is a
phenomenon that the business and society scholarship is ill-equipped to confront as it remains trapped in the same neoliberal
pro-elite paradigms that neglect meaningful attention to material (in)equality and focus instead on ensuring a minimum floor
of rights required for subsistence. Neglecting the concentration of wealth among the elite, particularly in countries with
historic legacies of inequalities based on race, caste, ethnicity, and religion, creates ideal conditions for the eruption of fas-
cisms premised upon programmatic denial of the full range of civil rights to one or more sections of the population, so that
even the floor minimum becomes impossible to achieve for all. This paper argues that corporate collusions with fascism can
be challenged only by a commitment to redistribution of wealth and creating critical citizens and by generating knowledge
that can question authority: in other words, scholarship must become a subversive activity.
Threats to Democracy civil society groups or the private sector cannot, or will not,
compensate.
The rise of authoritarian, proto-fascist strongmen is becom- The solutions offered by groups that recognize the result-
ing the new normal across the world (Levitsky and Ziblatt ing injustice and the dangers to democratic institutions, even
2018; Mishra 2017; Stanley 2018). This preference for human rights groups, are limited to ensuring minimum pro-
strongmen by significant sections of the public has been tections, without challenging the inequality-widening log-
traced to the increasing discontent with inequalities result- ics of neoliberalism (Moyn 2018a). However, inequality
ing from the steadfast commitment of liberal democratic results in “humiliating new hierarchies” (Mishra 2017, p.
governments to elite-friendly neoliberal policies (Brown 13) which make the resentful willing to support authoritar-
2017; Mishra 2017). Neoliberalism is defined as a “theory ians who offer an escape from elite policies rather than sus-
of political economic practices that proposes that human tain a liberal democracy with high inequality (Brown 2017).
well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual Rorty’s (1998, p. 90) observation that the disenfranchised
entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional “will decide that the system has failed and start looking
framework characterized by strong private property rights, around for a strongman to vote for…” has proven prescient
free markets, and free trade” (Harvey 2007, p. 2). A logi- with many strongmen assuming power in unequal societies
cal corollary of neoliberalism is the steady reduction in the through popular mandate.
role of the state in social welfare and the dilution of protec- While sharing the features of authoritarianism, fascism
tions of the weaker sections of society—a dilution for which involves racial, ethnic, or religious anxieties, in addi-
tion to wealth inequality. Fascism is “a form of political
behaviour marked by obsessive preoccupation with com-
* Prabhir Vishnu Poruthiyil munity decline, humiliation or victimhood” (Paxton 2004,
[email protected]
p. 218). Fascism therefore also involves “ultranationalism
1
Centre for Policy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology of some variety (ethnic, religious, cultural) with the nation
Bombay, Powai, India
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P. V. Poruthiyil
represented in the person of an authoritarian leader who Big Businesses: Fascism’s Enablers
speaks on its behalf” (Stanley 2018, p. xiv). Discontent
among dominant groups as a result of declining economic Fascism develops in stages (Paxton 1998), with big busi-
status and sociocultural status—as in the “dethroned ness playing a central role in its growth and expansion
whites who have lost not just economic but also social (Guerin 1938; Herf 1984; Kalecki 2011[1943]; Tooze
power and cultural pride of place”—(Brown 2017, p. 31), 2008). In the first stage, fascism becomes popular among
has translated into condoning, if not actively supporting, disaffected groups by offering alternatives to democracy
fascist policies across the world. which is portrayed, often correctly, as being run for the
The consequences of inequality-driven fascisms are dev- elites. In the second stage, rooting, it develops a reputation
astating. Fascists often win elections through democratic as “capable of acting decisively on the political scene”
means but once in power, they dismantle the very demo- in times of democratic impasse (Paxton 1998, p. 13). A
cratic institutions or ‘guardrails’ that protect civil liberties shared fear of solidarities that transcend national or racial
such as the judiciary, parliamentary procedures, and inde- boundaries, particularly workers’ solidarity and the need
pendent investigative agencies (Levitsky and Ziblatt 2018). for discipline in factories initiate an extended “partnership
Ironically, in spite of their promises, they rarely disturb the of big business with fascist upstarts” (Kalecki 2011[1943],
power of corporations that have caused many of the ine- p. 79). Fascists now transform into ‘tough helpers’ for the
qualities and much of the discontent. Rather, the democratic traditional elites through their use of parallel structures
checks and balances that have been discredited in the public for repression, often physical (Paxton 1998, p. 22). The
perception are dismantled to facilitate corporate interests, support for fascism widens to include conservative sec-
leading to a “strange merger of populism and plutocracy” tions from “farmers and small-town shopkeepers to bour-
(Pierson 2017, p. 105), making it easier to curb egalitarian geois entrepreneurs, intellectuals, and urban professionals”
alternatives that involve redistribution. As Amin (2014, p. opposed to the Left (Kurlander 2011, p. 281).
1) remarked, “the fascist solution appears to be the best one Fascism gradually becomes unmoored from the anti-
for dominant capital.” elite program that contributed to its popularity and begins
This collusion between corporations and fascist states is to ally itself with the ruling groups (Paxton 1998, p.
an unexplored topic in business ethics. This paper illustrates 14). Once in power—the third stage—fascists continue
the risk of such collusion within India where democratic to cooperate with the ruling elites who paved their way.
institutions are facing unprecedented onslaughts from fas- Businesses adjust to the ideological specificities of the
cist forces in power (Chatterji et al. 2019; The Economist new regime in exchange for protection from international
2017; Human Rights Watch 2019). The current regime has competition and increasing business from war efforts
distinctly fascist features: its underlying ideology, Hindu- (Tooze 2008). The fourth stage is the stage of governing;
tva, its organizational principles, and its sectarian goals are it involves tensions between the ruling elite, the fascist
inspired by the fascisms of early twentieth century Europe leader and followers, the party, and the state. The develop-
(Jaffrelot 2019; Mishra 2017). Its reelecttion in the 2019 ment of fascism reaches its fifth and final stage when the
general election has made agonizingly clear the extent to parallel structures it has created either become more pow-
which sectarianism has seeped into Indian society, across erful than the state, are disbanded, or become absorbed
caste and class, and particularly among the corporate classes into the state (Passmore 2014; Paxton 1998).
(Center for Media Studies 2019; Chatterji et al. 2019; Ven- Fascists are not permanently committed to any eco-
katramakrishnan 2019). For business and society scholars, nomic ideology or group. Tensions between groups of
the complicity, or the lack of resistance, of the Indian cor- small businesses that supported fascism for the sake of
porate elite to the rise of fascism demonstrates the gravity of protection from globalization in the early stages, on the
the threats facing democratic institutions, in India and across one hand, and export-oriented big businesses, on the other,
the world, and poses an unprecedented challenge to a field are resolved through a unique combination of socialist
which is premised upon liberal and democratic consensus ideas and liberal economic policies (Kurlander 2011; Pass-
among the corporate classes. The field has yet to reckon with more 2014). The success of the Nazis, for example, was
the possibility of indigenous and multinational corporations in the melding of “the merits of economic competition,
participating in authoritarian and proto-fascist projects of a dedication to building a classless Volksgemeinschhaft,
social transformation through choice and ideological affinity, and unabashed liberal imperialism” (Kurlander 2011, p.
even if the engagement makes no economic sense. 286). Foundational aspirations of welfare states such as
The question is: might history repeat itself, with the pri- full employment, high corporate taxes, generous welfare
vate sector in various countries entering into a lucrative provisions, and the protection of indigenous farmers, were
arrangement with fascist governments, at best ignoring and originally conceived by fascist regimes (Moyn 2018a, b;
at worst premised on human tragedies on a massive scale?
13
Big Business and Fascism: A Dangerous Collusion
Tooze 2008). While fascists were opposed to socialism BHR—‘embedded liberalism’—is based on a liberal democ-
and feminism, they formed their own labor movements racy characterized by a commitment to individual rights,
and women’s groups. Indeed, a reason for the success freedom of speech, and rule of law on the one hand, and free
of fascism is that, in times of chaos, it has successfully and fair elections that translate popular views into political
“amalgamated otherwise antagonistic groups into a single power, on the other hand (Ruggie 2003; Whelan et al. 2009).
movement” (Passmore 2014, p. 139). Equal dignity, or the equal distribution of freedoms with
Fascists rarely have total control over firms and certainly universal applicability (Sen 2004) is, of course, the founda-
not over all firms. Businesses resist fascist demands when tion of human rights. As a derived field, the premises of a
consequences are too risky—a freedom not available in liberal democracy and cosmopolitanism are fundamental to
other totalitarian regimes like Soviet Russia (Buchheim BHR scholarship.
and Scherner 2009). Firms supporting the Nazi movement First, assumptions from standard frameworks drawn
outperformed others by 5–8% (Ferguson and Voth 2008). from the canons of liberal philosophy (Kantian categori-
In spite of the rhetoric against traditional elites, “the mem- cal imperatives, utilitarianism, the social contract) inform
bers of this social stratum remain[ed] solidly entrenched in the bulk of arguments against corporate complicity in rights
the top tier of income and wealth distribution” in the Third abuse (Brenkert 2016; Wettstein 2015). Contributions in the
Reich (Tooze 2008, p. 177). field which assign to corporations the moral duty to protect
human rights include justifications premised on universal-
ism. Scholars insist that businesses have “universal moral
Fascism—A Blind Spot duties” (Hsieh 2015, p. 219), and a recent review notes: “At
the heart of the BHR debate is the goal of creating universal
History seems to be repeating itself, with the plutocracy corporate human rights responsibilities” (Schrempf-Stirling
and proto-fascist movements fueling each other’s interests and Van Buren 2017, p. 5).
in contemporary societies (Pierson 2017). This collusion has A second, related, assumption is that globalization would
escaped the attention of business ethics. For the sake of illus- lead to a weakened state with corporations having to take
tration, I will focus on business and human rights (BHR), up the slack (Arnold 2010; Scherer and Palazzo 2011).
a subfield in business ethics that is exclusively focused on Wettstein (2015, p. 164) recently asserted that the “power
human rights violations by states, in which complicity by and reach of national governments has gotten increasingly
corporations is a central concern (see, e.g., Santoro 2015; constrained, while that of non-state actors, among them par-
Wettstein 2015). The organs of the United Nations which ticularly large multinational companies, has dramatically
should be acutely aware of the phenomenon, and which are increased” (for exceptions to this, see Venkatesan 2019;
considered agenda setters in the field of BHR, sidestep any Whelan and Muthuri 2017).
reference to the rise of authoritarianisms and fascisms within A third assumption is the possibility of and respect for
their member states (see United Nations 2019). Meanwhile, public reasoning: decision makers and corporations are
the most recent review of the BHR literature identifies just expected to justify their actions, or principles, based on the
four themes: justification of the human rights obligations of shared norms of a global public sphere. In the field of BHR,
corporations; management processes that influence human there is an expectation that managers of multinationals share
rights; the economic benefits of adhering to human rights liberal democratic values and prefer not to be seen as com-
norms; and external influences (such as regulations) on plicit in human rights violations (Brenkert 2016). The claim
corporate engagement with human rights (Schrempf-Stir- that “there are educational and regulatory effects besides
ling and Van Buren 2017, pp. 3–4)—none of which refer the judicial function of human rights litigation” (Schrempf-
to authoritarianism or inequalities. I argue below that this Stirling and Wettstein 2017, p. 560) is again premised on the
neglect is the result of three basic assumptions of business notion that scholars, activists, and corporate leaders have a
and human rights scholarship that are, in turn, inherited from shared conception of public morality and shame.
the larger field of human rights. This set of foundational assumptions blind BHR from
recognizing that authoritarian and fascist states continue
Assumptions as Blinkers to govern with absolute control over national territories,
notwithstanding globalization, and that corporations play a
The idea that businesses have human rights obligations facilitating role in the process. The field is yet to acknowl-
started receiving more attention from business ethicists, edge the trend among corporations to brazenly reject the
business leaders, and nongovernmental organizations norms of liberal democracy like universalism, and with
after initiatives by the United Nations including the Pro- it the troublesome requirements of public reasoning, pre-
tect, Respect, and Remedy framework and the Global ferring instead the smoother routes to wealth accumula-
Compact (Santoro 2015). The foundational philosophy of tion that open up through collusion with authoritarian and
13
P. V. Poruthiyil
proto-fascist regimes. If an area of scholarship which is authoritarianism and extreme inequalities (Giridharadas
exclusively focused on human rights is blind to the prolif- 2018; Hofman et al. 2017). The corporate and scholarly
eration of such collusions between plutocracy and fascisms, response is muted when issues that render workers precari-
we can assume that this neglect is endemic and affects other ous, such as gutting of workers’ unions through outsourcing
streams of business ethics and most areas of business schol- and the normalization of the gig economy, are discussed
arship. Indeed, as discussed below, the neglect of inequality (Venkatesan 2019).
is characteristic of the larger human rights movement itself. In short, it is disturbing that this distinct field, focused as
it is on the role of corporations in human rights violations,
Human Rights: A Distraction from Inequality has not yet acknowledged the part played by corporations
which use wealth accumulated through the entrenching of
Legal historian Samuel Moyn recently observed that the inequalities to fuel the rise of fascism. The incentive for
human rights movement has neglected material equality corporations to collude with autocratic states is assumed
and has become satisfied with sufficiency (Moyn 2018a, to be predominantly material, through the deregulation of
b). Sufficiency is concerned with “how far an individual is industries and crackdowns on civil rights groups that fight
from having nothing and how well she is doing in relation against the exploitation of precarious labor and the extrac-
to some minimum of provision of the good things in life,” tion of resources from environmentally fragile areas (Baner-
while equality is concerned with “how far individuals are jee 2010; Pierson 2017). As we will see below, however,
from one another in the portion of those good things they corporate interests in fostering fascism can also be driven
get” (Moyn 2018a, p. 3). Moyn argues that limiting ambition by the politics of identity, particularly when the state prom-
to sufficiency at the expense of challenging material inequal- ulgates social policies that accentuate the prejudices and
ity has resulted in the human rights movement becoming the supremacist identities of corporate elites.
“signature morality of the neoliberal age” (Moyn 2018b, p.
32).
Moyn’s (2018a) critique reveals that the field of human Corporate Enablers of Hindu Fascism
rights emerged in the aftermath of the Second World War as
part of a larger social policy aimed at egalitarianism. In the The remainder of this article focuses on the role of Indian
1970s, human rights became detached from the egalitarian corporations and corporate classes in fostering the BJP’s
project and its ambitions limited to preventing civil rights accession to power and in the normalizing of Hindutva from
abuses by dictatorial post-colonial states. This shift toward a fringe ideology to hegemonic status in contemporary India.
ensuring only a minimum of rights suited the emerging
neoliberal agenda under which the demand being placed on The Dismantling of Democracy
businesses is only for bare minima, and not for a reduction
in the gap between those who have less and those who have The return to power of the BJP in 2019, in spite of its dis-
more. Moyn notes, “hard as it is to envision in practice, there regard for democratic institutions and its display of fascist
is no contradiction between drastic inequality and fulfilment tendencies, raises serious doubts about the future of lib-
of basic provision” (Moyn 2018b, p. 30). eral democracy in India (Chatterji et al. 2019; Jha 2019).
Contributions to business and human rights, and allied Scholars, political commentators, writers, filmmakers, and
initiatives of the United Nations, also seem to have inherited scientists had consistently raised concerns over the increas-
this satisfaction with sufficiency. Certainly, sophisticated ingly fascist tendencies of the BJP government during its
theoretical arguments are extended against violations of first term, including its violent assertions of majoritarian-
basic human rights; concerns are expressed that go “beyond ism, suppression of minorities and criminalization of dis-
supply chain labor rights, censorship and political repres- sent, propagation of pseudoscience and anti-intellectualism,
sion, and the extractive industry to a broad array of issues and infiltration by individuals affiliated with Hindutva into
ranging from the environment and access to affordable institutions, particularly in education, converting them into
medicines to economic, cultural, and social rights” (Santoro partisan organizations (Guha 2019; Halarnkar 2017; Human
2015, p. 156). But the field is trapped in what Moyn refers Rights Watch 2019; Kumar 2017; Malekar 2016; McDonnell
to as “spectacular violations” of rights, such as workplace and Cabrera 2019; Lokayat 2019; Mander et al. 2018; The
abuse, sweatshops, and child labor, that grab public atten- New York Times 2017; Reporters without Borders 2017).
tion (Arnold 2010; Brenkert 2016; Santoro 2015; Wettstein The assertive majoritarianism and redemptive violence
2015). associated with Hindu Rashtra (the Hindu Nation) has led
Recent studies of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to systematic downgrading of pluralism and of minorities,
and philanthropy have shown that heightened corporate in particularly Muslims, from the public sphere (Jaffrelot
investments in social sectors can go hand in hand with 2019). Within the Hindutva cosmology, the cow is deemed
13
Big Business and Fascism: A Dangerous Collusion
holy and its consumption a sacrilege and an affront to Hindu perspective, typically explaining the collusion as intri-
supremacy (Jha 2002). Lynchings of Muslims on account of cately linked to the policy turn toward neoliberalism of the
their trade, slaughter, or consumption of beef, by self-styled early 1990s (Chacko 2019; Gopalakrishnan 2008, 2009).
gau rakshaks (cow protectors) affiliated with Hindutva is a These critiques track the role of corporations from reluc-
new phenomenon in India, often perpetrated with the active tant to active enabler of Hindu fascism through various
collusion of state agencies, and has received considerable stages of its development.
media attention. An unavoidable tension involved in melding neolib-
The United Nations Human Rights Council had also eralism and Hindutva was noted at an early stage: neo-
warned in 2018: liberalism demands unrestricted globalization, including
the global flow of ideas along with capital, whereas the
In India, the election of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya
reactionary tendencies of Hindutva make it wary of any-
Janata Party (BJP), has been linked to incidents of vio-
thing without indigenous roots (Gopalakrishnan 2008,
lence against the members of Dalit, Muslim tribal and
2009). Initial support for Hindutva came predominantly
Christian communities. Reports document the use of
from small and medium traders and social conservatives
inflammatory remarks by BJP leaders against minority
who were opposed to economic and cultural liberaliza-
groups, and the rise of vigilantism targeting Muslims
tion facilitated by secular liberal governments (Corbridge
and Dalits. (United Nations 2018, p. 10)
and Harriss 2000). Big businesses had more to lose than
The results of the 2019 election show that none of these gain from the growth of a protectionist force like Hindutva
warnings of impending fascism have had any effect. The (Gopalakrishnan 2009; Patnaik 1993; Sarkar 1993).
BJP was able to increase its vote-share in every category of However, by the late 1990s, the proponents of Hindutva
voters, except Muslims. Despite its dismal handling of the had started reconciling its dissonances with neoliberalism,
economy and displays of sectarianism, the corporate elite’s like other fascist movements that transform their anti-elite
support for the BJP appears resolute. We now focus our stance to become supporters of the prevailing elite. Under-
attention on the critique of the role of Indian corporations lying this change was political expediency, particularly
and corporate classes in the BJP’s rise to power. the need to appeal to upper class voters eager for liber-
alization and globalization (Gopalakrishnan 2008). As
The “Dog on the Leash” Explanation noted above, the support of indigenous corporations for
fascist leadership is motivated by the need for temporary
Passmore (2014) identifies three approaches to the study protection from international competition, consolidation
of fascism—Marxist, Weberian, and totalitarian. Each of labor, or resentments against inequality (Kalecki 2011,
approach illuminates different aspects of fascism but the p. 141). Hindutva too served as a useful political mecha-
three categories also have some shared assumptions. The nism to break up or extinguish other forms of solidari-
Marxist approach focuses on the “material motives that ties (labor, class, consumer, environment protection, etc.)
attract different groups to fascism” (ibid., p. 8). Fascism, in that could have posed serious threats to business interests
this view, is a tool in the service of capitalists and the petty (Gopalakrishnan 2009). Consequently, by the turn of the
bourgeoisie against socialist alternatives. The Weberian century, Hindutva, and by extension the BJP, had become
approach, in contrast, argues that fascism is a last ditch effort far more committed to open markets, actively wooing
by reactionary elites and feudal classes to resist the advance international investors and deregulation of labor (ibid.).
of liberal democracy and socialism that threaten their status. While Indian big business elites identified the bene-
Populations experiencing rapid social change are attracted to fits of a totalitarian ideology like Hindutva in countering
“fascists who promise to restore old certainties” such as race, both subaltern mobilizations that threatened to segment
caste, and gender hierarchies (ibid., p. 11). There are obvious markets and state interventions in business decisions
overlaps between these two perspectives as the traditional (Gopalakrishnan 2009), they were careful at first not
elites are usually the contemporary owners of private capital. to endorse its reactionary, communal, and obscurantist
Totalitarian approaches focus on fascism’s drive to incorpo- political planks. This led Patnaik (1993, p. 76) to won-
rate the masses within “a hierarchical, mobilized, militarized der whether Indian corporations saw Hindutva as nothing
community” to serve the interests of the nation (ibid., p. but a “dog on a leash,” to be set loose on trade unions
12) and to “flatten out social differences in an undifferenti- and other labor mobilizations when necessary. Indeed, in
ated mass” (ibid., p. 135). The Weberian focus on fascism’s the 2000s, and particularly during the 2014 election cam-
assurance to traditional elites to restore order is therefore paign, the BJP had to publicly distance itself from the most
acknowledged in the totalitarian perspective. regressive foundations of Hindutva and portray itself as a
Most critiques of corporate involvement in the devel- center-right party in order to make itself acceptable to the
opment of Hindutva in India have adopted a Marxist corporate sector (Gopalakrishnan 2006).
13
P. V. Poruthiyil
Limitations of This Critique from the Left, does not offer a complete explanation. The
business elites’ facilitation and normalization of the tran-
The troubling truth of contemporary India is that the baring sition of Indian society into fascism requires additional
of its fascist face during its first term (2014–2019) has not elucidation.
dampened corporate comfort with the BJP. In 2016–2018, The next section uses Bourdieu’s (1977, 1990) concepts
the party received 93% of the total funding from 1731 cor- of capital, doxa, and habitus that is inspired by both Marx
porate sources, and 86% of the funds from trusts set up by and Weber to explain how neoliberalism fused with Hindu-
corporations for electoral funding (Association for Demo- tva has become the dominant worldview of the corporate
cratic Reforms 2018; Rodriques et al. 2019). Corporate elite in India.
support for BJP was extended into its reelecttion campaign
in 2019 with the party securing a similarly large share of
corporate funds, helping fuel its massive electoral apparatus
and steamroll opponents (Center for Media Studies 2019). Neoliberalism and Hindutva as Constituents
Enthusiastic right-wing ideologues lost no time in calling for of a New doxa
the “pseudo-secular/liberal cartels” to be “discarded from
the country’s academic, cultural and intellectual landscape” Habitus, Doxa, and Capital
(Madhav 2019, p. 1). BJP’s reelecttion sparked a huge rally
on the Indian stock exchange, indicating that the corporate According to Bourdieu’s account of human behavior, action
perspective on prevailing Hindutva-infused politics is very can be “coherent without springing from an intention of
positive. coherence and a deliberate decision; adjusted to the future
There is an obvious contemporary contrast with the without being the product of a project or a plan” (Bourdieu
United States of America where the Trump era has resulted 1990, p. 51). Bourdieu (1977) sees social activities organ-
in a wave of corporate activism against the party in power, if ized into fields, such as the realms of religion, business, and
not for social justice, at least for liberal causes (Bohm et al. politics. Each field has its own habitus which is the unspo-
2018; Chatterji and Toffel 2018). Fear of reprisals from an ken knowledge that plays an important role in the mainte-
increasingly vindictive BJP may be part of the explanation nance of the field and social positions. Habitus conditions
for the meekness of the Indian corporate sector (Poruthi- individuals to “generate dispositions objectively compatible
yil 2018). The proclivity of the Indian government to use with these conditions and in a sense pre-adapted to their
various agencies under its control—the vicious network demands” (Bourdieu 1990, p. 54). The social position of
of party-sponsored trolls, the investigating agencies, tax individuals in a field determines their habitus. Though habi-
departments, police, media—to suppress any opposition to tus gives opportunity for creativity, it does not involve con-
its cultural agenda could be constraining corporations from scious deliberation on our decisions. Rather, the habitus pro-
publicly challenging state support for sectarianism. vides “a spontaneity without consciousness or will” (ibid.,
Still, the silence cannot be attributed entirely to fear of p. 56) and is the “durably installed generative principle of
reprisal. The contemporary BJP defines itself as friendly regulated improvisations” (Bourdieu 1977, p. 278).
to businesses. The government has shown its desire to be Habitus is regulated, or curtailed, by an even more funda-
endorsed by the corporate classes, for instance, by boast- mental concept that Bourdieu calls doxa. Practical engage-
ing of its rise in the ‘ease of doing business’ index and by ment with the world involves significant misrecognition of
dismantling what remains of regulatory oversight (Ruparelia relations and actions of others. This misrecognition is not
2015). Moreover, in contrast to the economic conditions that an error, but the result of doxa, that is, “taken-for-granted,
drove German and Italian industrialists to support fascist preconscious understandings of the world and our place in
movements, Indian corporations are not facing any ideologi- it that shape our more conscious awareness” and a condition
cal threats from a Left that has been entirely emasculated by imposed on new entrants to a field in order to “obtain from
two decades of neoliberalism and ideological drift (Prashad them that undisputed, pre-reflexive, naïve, native compliance
2015). If they were uncomfortable with sectarianism, cor- with the fundamental presuppositions of the field” (Calhoun
porations could have shifted allegiance to other parties such 2003, p. 711).
as the Indian National Congress, which have also not been Bourdieu defines capital as resources which are specific
averse to using security agencies to curb perceived threats to the field like wealth (economic capital), networks (social
to corporate interests (Shrivastava and Kothari 2012; Sundar capital), or prestige (cultural capital). Individuals engage
2016). Cozying up to the violence of sectarianism was not in struggles to achieve a higher social position in one field
necessary for big businesses to secure their economic inter- through capture of capital relevant to the field. Higher posi-
ests. Therefore, the Marxist critiques of corporate support tion in the field also means having the power to define which
for Hindutva as “dog on a leash” to neutralize the threats capital is valuable in that field.
13
Big Business and Fascism: A Dangerous Collusion
The conversion of control over capital from one field to classes (Jodhka 2016). Homophily (love of sameness),
another is one of Bourdieu’s original contributions (Calhoun derived from membership in religious, caste, and spiritual
2003). For example, consider different fields like law, lit- groups, has been found to influence board composition
erature, education, religion, and politics, each with its own of the top listed companies in India (Bhagavatula et al.
rules. Successful lawyers often convert their capital from 2017; Naudet and Dubost 2016). The social and economic
the field of law into politics. Capital can result in intergen- capital available to these corporate classes translates easily
erational transfer with successful politicians transferring from the spiritual–religious–political sphere to lucrative
acquired capital, such as name recognition and access to corporate jobs (Ajit et al. 2012; Khan 2019). Association
funding, to their children. Religiosity can similarly be trans- with affiliates of BJP has helped large Indian companies
ferred to the field of politics when requiring the endorsement to strong-arm multinational corporations, no doubt por-
of religious voters. traying them as “foreign,” into accepting revenue-sharing
Neoliberalism is one of the most pervasive doxas in con- agreements that are not ideal (see Bhardwaj et al. 2017).
temporary societies. Referring to neoliberalism, Bourdieu Second, religion wields a significant level of influence
observes that “the most successful ideological effects are the on decision making by Indian managers, which exposure
ones that have no need of words, but only of laissez-faire and to globalization and education has not dented (Chan and
complicitous silence” (Bourdieu 1990, p. 133). By the early Ananthram 2019; Nanda 2011[2009]). Illiberal aspects of
2000s, neoliberalism was already the doxa of the Indian cor- Indian culture such as caste systems, patriarchy, ritual-
porate elite (Chopra 2003). As the next section shows, their ism, and superstitions have shown considerable resilience
ease with the sectarianism of the current political establish- and survived and even thrived post globalization and eco-
ment can be explained by the grafting of Hindutva onto the nomic liberalization (Gupta 2000). Nanda (2011[2009], p.
prevailing doxa. 140) observes: “The banal, everyday Hindu religiosity is
simultaneously breeding a banal, everyday kind of Hindu
Neoliberal Hindutva: The Doxa of Corporate India nationalism.” Religiosity, hijacked by the prejudicial ver-
sion of Hindutva, “operate[s] as accessible gates” into the
Hindutva is premised on three principles (Chandra 2019): corporate classes (Waghorne 2019, p. 4). This explains
(1) a totalitarian flattening of internal diversities and con- the lack of corporate resistance against sectarian public
flicts of Hinduism into an undifferentiated uniform mass; policies, such as banning beef, which reinforce Hindu-
(2) the imposition of “brahmanical patriarchy” (Chakravarti tva worldviews (Chigateri 2008; Doctor 2013; Sarkar and
1993) as the organizing principle, described below; and (3) Sarkar 2016). It is not surprising, therefore, that these
the conflation of nation with the majority religion, in this groups do not object when public funds are directed to
case Hinduism (Palshikar 2017). The first and the third fea- ‘research’ to substantiate the ‘medicinal benefits’ of the
tures are standard to all forms of fascism and will not be dis- cow in treating cancer, or its ability to exhale oxygen and
cussed here (see Passmore 2014). The second, brahmanical to secrete gold in its urine (Ramachandran 2016).
patriarchy, being unique to India, is briefly discussed below. Like other forms of supremacist ideologies, Hindutva
Brahmanical patriarchy refers to a worldview that accepts reassures members of upper castes that are threatened by
the Hindu conservative notions of purity (Chakravarti 1993). the rise of lower castes and, like other supporters of fas-
Upper caste habits and rituals (vegetarianism, temple ritu- cism, long for “order, calm, and the inherited hierarchies
als, Sanskrit, etc.) are considered pure and the customs and of wealth and birth” (Paxton 2004, p. 22). Support for the
traditions of lower castes (particularly meat consumption) BJP therefore rises “as we go up the class hierarchy, as
are impure. The belief in purity also constrains women into well as the caste hierarchy,” with its popularity highest
traditional roles of subservience. The idea of brahmanical among anti-minority voters (Palshikar 2017; Sridharan
patriarchy is not a critique of all individuals belonging to 2014, p. 75; Venkatramakrishnan 2019). A subtle process
any specific groups (Brahmins or men), just as racism is through which brahmanical patriarchy establishes its dom-
not a critique of all white men. The label is used to capture inance across caste lines is sanskritization: the emulation
an interlinked set of prejudices that is often internalized by by the castes of brahmanical rituals and practices from
men and women from all castes through sociocultural and which they were historically excluded (Srinivas 1956).
political processes. My argument is that features of the field This process of sanskritization and its association with
inhabited by corporate classes, and conversions of capital pro-business policies also works to extend Hindutva’s
between fields, have led steadily to the fused form of neolib- appeal beyond upper castes to include the backward castes,
eral Hindutva becoming the dominant doxa, with the brah- particularly the upwardly mobile “neo-middle classes” as
manical component being a crucial ingredient. they enter the corporate milieu (Jaffrelot 2013). Fascist
The first feature to consider is the domination of reli- credentials become an essential password for entry into
giously inclined upper caste Hindus within the corporate the Indian corporate elite.
13
P. V. Poruthiyil
Third, the rise of spiritual gurus (babas) is another factor The grafting of these features of Hindutva onto the
aiding the melding of neoliberalism and Hindutva as the prevailing doxa of neoliberalism in India is leading to a
doxa of the corporate sector. Even under previous regimes, “state–temple–corporate” complex (Nanda 2011[2009]) that
these babas successfully monetized the cultural anxieties allows a variety of upper class and caste interests to merge
of the upwardly mobile classes and set up “divine enter- seamlessly with religious groups and politicians (Poruthiyil
prises” (McKean 1996) that had a large following among the 2018). The social and spiritual benefits add to the mate-
influential classes (Nanda 2011[2009]). Politicians across rial benefits of being associated with the party in power.
the spectrum have remained beholden to these gurus in the Corporate interests become indistinguishable from those of
expectation of influencing followers’ votes. Their power religious institutions which are themselves businesses. Poli-
has, however, increased manifold under a Hindu nationalist ticians tap the influence of religious institutions which bar-
regime. Some gurus that actively campaigned for the Hin- gain for protection of regressive customs and pro-corporate
dutva agenda, including cow protection, use their influence policies that entrench their grip on society.
in favor of corporations that have colluded with the state This doxa now circumscribes the habitus of various fields
to suppress civil rights (Khare 2016). Politically influen- inhabited by the influential Indian corporate elite. The vio-
tial babas use their followers, composed predominantly of lence of fascism is seen as unproblematic, even desirable,
upwardly mobile classes, as captive markets to launch lucra- for these groups, as their privileges do not just remain intact
tive businesses that commercialize traditional knowledge but are enhanced in the supremacist society envisaged by
such as yoga and Ayurveda (McKean 1996). These babas Hindutva.
cynically leverage their influence over the ideological pref-
erences of devotees to bargain for patronage from the state, The Combined Effect of Neoliberalism and Hindutva
leading to the uniquely Indian phenomenon of “crony babas”
(Bhatia and Lasseter 2017; Khare 2016). The effects of neoliberal Hindutva can be illustrated through
A fourth factor to consider is that the influence of a global two examples.
network of supremacists, particularly from hugely significant
countries like the United States and India, can lead to the (1) The lynching of Muslims by vigilante groups is a new
institutionalization of supremacy. The Indian diaspora, or phenomenon in India. Vigilante gau rakshaks, with the
non-resident Indians (NRIs), are some of the most vocal and connivance of the state and, troublingly, almost with-
influential supporters of Hindutva (Therwath 2012). While out public outrage, systematically track and organize
benefiting from progressive policies that defend immigrant assaults on Muslims and Dalits, accusing them of sac-
rights they also perpetuate purity norms of brahmanical rilege by involvement in the trade, slaughter, and con-
patriarchy in their host nations (Equality Labs 2018). Their sumption of beef (Human Rights Watch 2019; Mander
ideological and organizational links with white supremacists et al. 2018). Of the recorded cow-related lynchings that
provide a transnational network and resources with which to occurred between 2012 and 2019, 97% took place after
damage and dismantle domestic liberal democratic institu- the BJP assumed power at the center, with 122 inci-
tions (Thobani 2019). dents (46 of them fatal, and 57% targeting Muslims)
Fifth, the clarity offered by technology has fascinated fas- recorded between 2014 and 2018 (IndiaSpend 2019).
cists seeking a way to control societies (Herf 1984). As Herf Observers worry that Muslims in India are, to borrow
(1984, p. 105) observed with reference to the Nazi regime, Martin Luther King’s words, living “constantly at tiptoe
“Authoritarian technology required an authoritarian state.” stance,” accepting the possibility of being lynched as
The use of technology has benefited governance in India the new normal (Mander et al. 2018).
by reducing pilfering and corruption, and has improved the
quality of government services. However, the BJP has dis- Jayant Sinha, a minister in the BJP government, serves
played a fascination with the use of technology to curtail as an example of the fusion of neoliberalism and Hindutva.
democratic rights, for instance, through improved surveil- Sinha is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology,
lance, which major technology firms and entrepreneurs have Delhi, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard Business
sought to exploit (Aneez et al. 2019). Technology entre- School. He has spent years abroad and had stints as consult-
preneurs are transferring their legitimacy (gained through ant and as fund manager with recognizable global entities
decades of association with liberal politics and the quintes- such as McKinsey and Company and Omidyar Network. His
sentially neoliberal phenomenon of outsourcing) to develop Wikipedia page notes that Sinha has also contributed to aspi-
technologies for surveillance which meet the emerging needs rational publications like the Harvard Business Review and
of authoritarians, and have even funded litigations in the the Financial Times.
court against civil society groups struggling to challenge On June 29, 2017, Alimuddin Ansari was lynched in Sin-
the state’s attempt to entrench surveillance (Thaker 2018). ha’s constituency, Hazarabagh in Central India, on suspicion
13
Big Business and Fascism: A Dangerous Collusion
of carrying beef. The Hindu mob made and shared videos of being gunned down, and scores of others injured (Deva-
the lynching which reached Ansari’s teenage son in real time sahayam 2018). This brutality by the state on behalf of a
(Mander et al. 2018). By the time the son scrambled to the corporation and against some of the poorest sections of the
location in the city center, his father was dead. The ensuing population elicited a strong response from civil society.
legal processes, for the first time in a trial of this kind, found The response from the increasingly powerful right-wing
the accused guilty, raising hopes that the justice system had sections of the media demonstrates the interpenetration of
finally recognized the dangers of cow vigilantism. interests of Hindutva and neoliberalism. Seeking proximity
Sinha’s response reflects the doxa of neoliberal Hindu- to whichever party was in power, Vedanta had become a
tva. He not only financed the legal costs of the accused, public backer of the BJP’s political agenda (The Wire 2018).
but in an action of blatant disregard for human rights, also Hindutva-affiliated news outlets branded protestors part of
publicly garlanded them when they were released on bail. an “anti-national” conspiracy funded by “Jihadis,” and even
Sinha claimed that the accused were innocent and he was the Church of England (Subramani 2018; Venkatesan 2018),
merely upholding justice for his voters. But he did not find thus evoking prevailing prejudices against non-Hindus por-
it necessary to meet the family of the victim, who are also trayed in Hindutva discourse as opposed, by default, to the
residents in his constituency (Gettleman and Kumar 2018). “national interests” (narrowly interpreted as wealth crea-
These actions triggered a public outcry and disappointment tion). The corporation also received support from influen-
among those who expected that Sinha’s academic and pro- tial babas like Jaggi Vasudev and Baba Ramdev, both of
fessional background would lift him above the inflammatory whom have sprawling business enterprises and considerable
vitriol of BJP ministers steeped in Hindtuva (ibid). But the followings among the core supporters of Hindutva (Bhatia
public outrage was too meek to threaten his standing within and Lasseter 2017). In a particularly insensitive choice of
the party, his ministerial position, or his reelecttion. vocabulary, given the context, Vasudev declared: “Lynching
large businesses is economic suicide” (quoted in The Indian
(2) India is driven by crony capitalism. A majority of bil- Express 2018).
lionaires are making their profits from ‘rent-thick’ These examples show how the doxa constituted by the
sectors that involve the state on a grand scale, in giv- interpenetration of neoliberalism and Hindutva results in
ing licenses and deploying security forces to effect the protection not just of economic but also of the socio-
massive displacements of communities (Gandhi and cultural interests of the corporate elite in India. Adhering to
Walton 2012; Oxfam 2018, p. 35). The beneficiar- the tenets of Hindutva is now considered essential for Indian
ies of the state–temple–corporate complex inevitably neoliberalism (Chacko 2019; George 2014). The hegemony
oppose human rights and progressive movements as of this doxa over the corporate sector, and indeed the entire
the latter create barriers to wealth extraction and seek country, is expected to entrench itself, as the BJP’s massive
the unraveling of regressive social institutions ands, electoral victory is bound to be interpreted as an endorse-
and practices that reinforce the privileged positions of ment of both neoliberalism and Hindutva.
corporate elites in traditional social hierarchies. The
overlapping interests between crony capitalists and
sociocultural organizations can be seen in the response Reconfiguring BHR Toward Material Equality
to an incident involving coastal villagers in India and
a subsidiary of the London-based Vedanta Resources, In his study of Nazi death squads, Ordinary Men, Brown-
controlled by an NRI. ing (2017[1992], p. 216) observed that a “combination of
situational factors and ideological overlap that concurred
Successive federal governments in India have provided on the enemy status and dehumanisation of the victims
the Vedanta subsidiary with permissions to build and expand was sufficient to turn ‘ordinary men’ into ‘willing execu-
its copper smelting operations in the environmentally fragile tioners’.” Recent studies on the rise of supremacist ideol-
coastal zone in south eastern India. These permissions have ogy across the world are reaffirming that the role of “social
been granted with no regard for the local villagers’ concerns and psychological attachments to groups” can inure people
that effluents from the plant are polluting their sources of into accepting the cruelties inflicted by political groups they
water and causing the unusual incidence of health problems. support (Achen and Bartels 2017, p. 32). Those who may
The company refuses to accept responsibility and the state not initially be inclined toward fascist policies could, after
continues to allow it to expand its operations. Recently, a period of time, recalibrate their beliefs to suit the group’s
frustrations boiled over and triggered a massive protest of interests. This is particularly true when the violence is seen
around 200,000 people, mostly local villagers and human as redemptive and therefore devoid of guilt (Berbrier 2000).
rights activists. The response of the provincial government, The social transformations underway in the contempo-
run by an affiliate of the BJP, led to 13 unarmed villagers rary world scarcely give confidence that members of those
13
P. V. Poruthiyil
corporate classes will not become another generation of Indeed, the current celebration of the United Nations’
“ordinary men” who perpetrate extraordinary cruelties. The consensus on human rights obligations of businesses—the
corporate classes share the ideological prejudices of fascists premise for the existence of a field called business and
and are becoming inured to, or even profiteer from, the vio- human rights—stems from the discourse’s failure to date
lent exclusions and mass crimes that may unfold. This is to address the increasing concentration of wealth, as long
especially true of societies with particular historic legacies, as minimum protections are assured. In addressing SDG
such as slavery in the United States and Brazil and caste 10, corporations are likely to opt for a diluted version of
and religious strife in India, where the wealth and privi- equality that distracts attention from the deeper mecha-
lege are predominantly retained by elite groups with shared nisms of wealth accumulation (Giridharadas 2018). For
identities. instance, corporations can claim credit for compliance
Business scholarship and education has an important role with a diluted form of human rights such as increasing
to play by inoculating corporate classes against the appeals diversity on company boards, or philanthropic invest-
of fascism. The wider business community—including com- ments—activities that have minimal impact on profit mar-
panies, scholars, and activists—must respond to this defiant gins—while refusing more substantial policies like facili-
role of big businesses in the proliferation of authoritarian, tating worker participation in boards, actively lobbying for
proto-fascist states across the world. As history has shown, removal of policies that result in lower corporation taxes,
casual engagement with fascism can rapidly spin out of con- and weaker protections of labor and Nature. A refocus on
trol into an atmosphere conducive to regressive social poli- material equality, and not just sufficiency, is necessary for
cies with tremendous social costs (Arendt 1973). If business the meaningful defense of human rights (Moyn 2018a, b)
graduates are contributing to the entrenching of fascisms to and by implication for management studies. This would
protect material or sociocultural interests, educators cannot involve the recalibration of attitudes toward redistribution,
escape the blame for failing to warn them. I suggest three states, and unions.
broad strategies below to prevent this turn of events. Meaningful attention to inequality, including redistribu-
tion of wealth, can address the issue of increasing tribalism
Address Inequality, Meaningfully and the growth of majoritarian politics. Redistribution can
break the vicious cycle of capital transfer between the fields
As Piketty (2014, p. 263) notes, whether inequalities can of corporate activity and fascist politics. For instance, in
be maintained “depends not only on the effectiveness of the India, reduced wealth concentration among the elite groups
repressive apparatus but also, and perhaps primarily, on the with affinity for fascism would mean reduced resources for
effectiveness of the apparatus of justification.” Critics of the sectarian politics, and a reduction in wealth transfers to
eagerness to privilege profit maximization and reluctance to crony babas and their influence on politics. In the United
engage with systemic injustices have suggested that business States, redistribution could reduce the funding for political
scholarship is part of this apparatus (Ghoshal 2005; Marens groups bound by supremacist ideas, in favor of those who
2007, 2010). Even within business ethics, a field that claims argue for redistribution of wealth and the revival of trade
to resist the dominant tenor of the field, there is a noted unions.
preference for political philosophies that are compatible with Preference for a minimal state, though for different rea-
inequality (Lockean and libertarian approaches) over those sons, is a shared feature both of advocates of neoliberalism
that challenge the concentration of wealth (Rawls, Marx) and human rights (Moyn 2018a), and of business and society
and risk repelling the consumers/funders of business school scholars (Scherer and Palazzo 2011; Wettstein 2015). How-
education (Marens 2007). ever, achieving material equality requires a greater role for
Superficial approaches, such as focusing on minimum the state that is oriented toward egalitarian goals, such as
protections of human rights while ignoring widening ine- creating policies that nurture unions, distribute ownership
qualities, are a limitation of the human rights movement as of means of production, and hold private actors accountable.
a whole (Moyn 2018a). Goal 10 of the UN’s Sustainable Unions have been at the vanguard of social justice and the
Development Goals, to “reduce inequality within and among foundation of a multiracial and multicaste social movement
countries,” is a good example. The concern with persistent against sectarianism. It is important that business scholar-
inequality is that “large disparities remain regarding access ship challenge prevailing prejudices in the corporate sector
to health and education services and other assets” with the against workers’ solidarity. Analyzing industrial disputes
focus primarily on status equality, that is, discriminations in (e.g. Herod 1999), investigating executive pay ratios, and
access based on gender, caste, race, disability, and sexual- addressing the role of race and caste in the nature of wealth
ity (United Nations 2015). It is not surprising, therefore, accumulation must figure just as prominently as the current
that derived fields—such as business and human rights—are focus on living wages, safe working conditions, and minimal
affected by the same malaise. protections against workplace abuses.
13
Big Business and Fascism: A Dangerous Collusion
Recognize Human Inclination for Cruelty which problems are worth addressing. Individuals who do
not know how to learn and how to find solutions are easily
A recent article in The Atlantic observed that among Trump swayed by demagogues who offer emotional arguments
supporters “their shared laughter at the suffering of others is that fail the test of reason or fact. They become receptacles
an adhesive that binds them to one another” (Serwer 2018). and channels for the spread of elite-friendly, communally
Social media posts shared by Hindutva groups of themselves divisive political agendas.
lynching Muslims reveal a similar shared enthusiasm, a grim As Hindu nationalism began to grow as a serious threat
solidarity (Mander et al. 2018). For the perpetrators, these to secularism and democracy in India, Amartya Sen (1993)
cruelties are performative and valorous actions devoid of identified its “militant obscurantism,” particularly of his-
guilt as the intention is to defend a community that perceives tory; more recently, he highlighted the interest of Hindu-
itself as facing existential threats (Rushdy 2012). tva ideologues in “arbitrary augmentation of a narrowly
Philosophical concepts such as trust, virtue, empathy, and sectarian view of India’s past, along with undermining its
justice are standard fare in business ethics; they support the magnificently multireligious and heterodox history” (Sen
self-image of business graduates and corporations as ideal 2007, p. 1). Engagement with the historical method, for
agents for addressing social issues, given that the state is instance through a study of business history, can equip
being rendered redundant by globalization. However, as a students with the capacity to scrutinize and debunk the
phenomenon that is integral to human nature, particularly obscurantist history that is often used to promote victim-
in groups associated with authoritarian movements, cruelty hood and justify violence. The curriculum could include
should also be a subject of study in business ethics (e.g. the historical role of German companies in the transfor-
Shklar 1982). mation of fascism through the various stages, cultural
There is a way for business ethics and education to recog- legacies that explain the entrenchment of race, caste, and
nize our frailty as human beings: by bringing humanities— colonial rule in the contemporary structuring of the cor-
history, literature, rhetoric—into their curricula and teach- porate world, and the politics of redistribution and labor
ing (Nussbaum 2010; Zald 1996). The surge in adherents movements, as well as research to foster critical thinking
of Hindutva in India has answered Nussbaum’s question: among business graduates.
given the downgrading of humanities in universities “Would Postman and Weingartner (1969), in their classic Teach-
democracy in India survive today’s assault upon its soul?” ing as a Subversive Activity, note that educators “serve as
(Nussbaum 2010, p. 4). In a warning particularly suited to the principal medium for developing in youth attitudes and
business education Nussbaum (ibid., p. 23) notes that: skills of social, political and cultural criticism” (ibid., p. 2).
Classrooms, they argue, must become inquiry environments
educators for economic growth will do more than
that are structured as a series of human encounters where
ignore the arts. They will fear them. For a cultivated
learners learn by doing the process of learning (Postman and
and developed sympathy is a particularly dangerous
Weingartner 1969). As expressed by Nussbaum: in a state of
enemy of obtuseness, and moral obtuseness is neces-
inquiry “each student must be treated as an individual whose
sary to carry out programs of economic development
powers of mind are unfolding and who is expected to make
that ignore inequality.
an active and creative contribution to each classroom discus-
Democracy requires, Nussbaum argues, what humanities sion” (Nussbaum 2010, p. 55). Education should become
foster: an ability to see other people as human beings, “rather experiential—“An education of ‘I wonder’, instead of ‘I do’”
than as a mere useful instrument or an obstacle to one’s (Freire 2008[1974], p. 32) that shuns the tendency to simply
plan…. To build democracy we need to foster individuals transmit inert ideas and principles that do not challenge the
who are able to create relationships that are meaningful status quo.
rather than entering into relationships with an intention to The brunt of anti-intellectualism of authoritarian-fas-
manipulate” (ibid., p. 6). cist groups across the world has been borne by humanities
departments—gender studies, history, and sociology are pri-
Business Education as a Subversive Activity mary targets (Guha 2019; Kerr 2018; Mathur 2018). These
disciplines pose a serious challenge to imagined foundations
The fragility of a society that is prosperous but com- of fascism such as gender and racial hierarchies, caste purity,
posed of compliant individuals who fear not only others’ and the mythical golden ages (Sen 1993). That business edu-
autonomy, but also their own, cannot be overstated. The cation has not been in the cross-hairs of right-wing extrem-
tendency to “obey in advance” is well-suited for tyranny ism should be disconcerting as it means that the knowledge
(Snyder 2017, p. 17). The seeds of totalitarianism are eas- and graduates emerging from business schools are devoid of
ily sown in an uncritical population disinclined to question intellectual content that fascists might find threatening. Con-
authority, unable to define societal problems or to decide versely, one measure of the success of a research or teaching
13
P. V. Poruthiyil
program in defending democracy is its ability to generate this paper is dedicated to his relentless efforts to ensure justice for the
antipathy from fascists and/or their paramilitary forces. victims.
The simultaneous proliferation of billionaires with global Ethical Approval This article does not contain any studies with human
business interests and fascism poses a challenge to core participants performed by any of the authors.
assumptions in the field of business ethics. It seems that
democracy is not essential for wealth accumulation, as was
once thought, nor are corporations naturally inclined to
accept rational arguments on global standards of morality. References
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