I can recommend reading about the "Chaebol", which is effectively this in South Korea. Five corporations got so huge that they control politics, and the C-staff of those companies is basically immune to no matter what the legal system throws at them because they always just threaten to fire so many of their workers that the politicians give in to them.
There's a name I haven't heard in a while. I'm so glad for the revival of that IP/content. From what I can tell, all the early-80s cyberpunk literature basically had the same theme, so the classic authors are all good reads as well. It must have been something about late 70s / early 80s USA that made everyone feel like we were on the verge of corporate takeover of government. Understandably, I suppose.
> It must have been something about late 70s / early 80s USA that made everyone feel like we were on the verge of corporate takeover of government.
Yes and no. At the time, Cyberpunk was a fringe movement by some rebel authors. Hence the "punk". Until then, mainstream science fiction was very much obsessed with nice utopias that used technology and communication for the benefit of society in far distant futures. Cyberpunk tore it all down and pointed at the possible nightmare of a not so distant future where all pervading technology leaves you cluelessly behind, crushed under the foot of megacorporate feudalism.
> It must have been something about late 70s / early 80s USA that made everyone feel like we were on the verge of corporate takeover of government. Understandably, I suppose.
Rise of mass media and opaque conglomerates along with the poor economics of late 70's through 80's that saw many (mostly) manufacturing jobs get nuked by boardrooms.
I listened to a college professor talking about Neuromancer and he connected republican president Ronald Reagon's "Reaganomics" to the theme corporations were taking over the world.
Chaebol (Korea) and Zaibatsu (Japan). The former are still very much alive and kicking, while the former was more or less snuffed out in the post-war period (as is my understanding).
cookiengineer|2 years ago
jvanderbot|2 years ago
AnonymousPlanet|2 years ago
Yes and no. At the time, Cyberpunk was a fringe movement by some rebel authors. Hence the "punk". Until then, mainstream science fiction was very much obsessed with nice utopias that used technology and communication for the benefit of society in far distant futures. Cyberpunk tore it all down and pointed at the possible nightmare of a not so distant future where all pervading technology leaves you cluelessly behind, crushed under the foot of megacorporate feudalism.
voidfunc|2 years ago
Rise of mass media and opaque conglomerates along with the poor economics of late 70's through 80's that saw many (mostly) manufacturing jobs get nuked by boardrooms.
staticman2|2 years ago
busterarm|2 years ago
Mountain_Skies|2 years ago
mayormcmatt|2 years ago
theshrike79|2 years ago
There are three unavoidable things in life: Death, Taxes and Samsung =)