Corporate performance pressure causes labor violations that companies then externalize as managerial fault
Evidence
Managers who cannot improve same-store sales year-overyear are fired, demoted or publicly shamed. The majority of Walmart’s many labour violations in its retail stores stem from local managers cutting corners in the hopes of meeting the ever-rising demands of Bentonville (Gogoi 2007a; Greenhouse 2004; Greenhouse and Barbaro 2005; Greenhouse and Barbaro 2006, 26–28), which usually allows Walmart to externalize blame and punishment. — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 291
Categorization
- XREF: This ‘risk externalization’ mechanism parallels Milgrom’s institutional analysis — corporations diffuse blame downward rather than institutionalize accountability. — connects to: Corporations deflect blame for industrial disasters even when fault is evident — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2708; Executives escaped penalties while managers bore punishment in the antitrust conspiracy; The falling rate of profit forces capitalists to intensify labor exploitation — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2376 (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- Executives escaped penalties while managers bore punishment in the antitrust conspiracy
#exemplifies(0.85) - Corporations deflect blame for industrial disasters even when fault is evident
#corroborates(0.82) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2708 - The bad-apples framing deflects blame from systemic causes
#expands(0.78) - Organizations deliberately harm others when corporate ideology and fear of job loss align.
#corroborates(0.77) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4019 - The falling rate of profit forces capitalists to intensify labor exploitation
#expands(0.75) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2376 - Corporate fines shield executives from personal accountability when treated as business costs
#expands(0.72) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2977