Modern Manors

In Modern Manors, author Sanford M. Jacoby takes on an interesting and little-discussed subject: the corporation as the core social welfare system in modern times. In this comprehensive study of three American corporations, Jacoby demonstrates that canny companies such as Kodak; Sears, Roebuck; and TRW have managed to avoid unionization and government regulation, and even influence national legislation by creating in-house "worker-friendly" programs that mimicked the effects of government and union involvement. The book takes its title from the analogy Jacoby draws between the modern corporation and the feudal baronies of the middle ages, which offered "security and identity in return for deference and fealty." Indeed, as Jacoby takes the reader on a time-tunnel tour of the three corporations' histories, it becomes abundantly clear that managers at Kodak, Sears, and TRW (then Thompson Products) understood that by setting up their own systems of pensions, paid vacations, profit-sharing, and company unions, they could promote worker loyalty and circumvent unwelcome outside interference. Even now, in an era of increasing corporate instability and widespread downsizing, the effects of welfare capitalism continue to be felt. Jacoby's history of welfare capitalism since the New Deal makes for compelling, often disturbing reading.