Paperback
Why our workplaces are authoritarian private governments-and why we can’t see it One in four American workers says their workplace is a “dictatorship.” Yet that number almost certainly would be higher if we recognized employers for what they are-private governments with sweeping authoritarian power …

Private Government

How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It)

RRP$34.99

$34.59

  • Paperback

    224 pages

  • Release Date

    7 July 2019

Check Delivery Options

Summary

Why our workplaces are authoritarian private governments-and why we can’t see itOne in four American workers says their workplace is a “dictatorship.” Yet that number almost certainly would be higher if we recognized employers for what they are-private governments with sweeping authoritarian power over our lives. Many employers minutely regulate workers’ speech, clothing, and manners on the job, and employers often extend their authority to the off-duty lives of workers, who can be fired f…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9780691192246
ISBN-10:0691192243
Author:Elizabeth Anderson
Publisher:Princeton University Press
Imprint:Princeton University Press
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:224
Release Date:7 July 2019
Weight:292g
Dimensions:18mm x 139mm x 215mm
Series:The University Center for Human Values Series
A-Format
B-Format
Private Government by Elizabeth Anderson - ISBN: 9780691192246
139 × 215 mm
C-Format
A4
mm / in
What They're Saying

Critics Review

“Anderson explores a striking American contradiction. On the one hand, we are a freedom-obsessed society, wary of government intrusion into our private lives; on the other, we allow ourselves to be tyrannized by our bosses.”—Joshua Rothman, NewYorker.com
“Private Government is a welcome and important call to bring workplace governance back into political theory and discourse, and should be taken seriously if we are to promote greater democracy in the workplace.”—David Cowan, Times Literary Supplement
“Highlight[s] the dramatic and alarming changes that work has undergone over the past century—insisting that, in often unseen ways, the changing nature of work threatens the fundamental ideals of democracy.”—Miya Tokumitsu, New Republic
“The extent of the arbitrary authority of owners and managers over employees is surprisingly neglected by political thinkers, given how much time we spend at work and how little in the polling booth. Elizabeth Anderson provides a much-needed, important, and compelling account of this overlooked subject. Private Government deserves to be widely read and discussed.”—Alan Ryan, professor emeritus, University of Oxford

About The Author

Elizabeth Anderson

Elizabeth Anderson is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and John Dewey Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. Her books include The Imperative of Integration (Princeton).

Returns

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.