Corporations dominate our societies. They employ us, sell to us and influence how we think and who we vote for, while their economic interests dictate local, national and global agendas.

Written in clear and accessible terms, this much-needed textbook provides critical perspectives on all aspects of the relationship between business and society: from an historical analysis of the spread of capitalism as the foundation of the 'corporate' revolution in the late nineteenth century to the regulation, ethics and exclusionary implications of business in contemporary society. Furthermore, it examines how corporate power and capitalism might be resisted, outlining a range of alternatives, from the social economy through to new forms of open access or commons ownership.

Kean Birch is Associate Professor in the Business and Society programme at York University, Canada. His recent books include: We Have Never Been Neoliberal (2015); The Handbook of Neoliberalism (2016, co-edited with Simon Springer and Julie MacLeavy); and Innovation, Regional Development and the Life Sciences (2016).

Caroline Shenaz Hossein is Assistant Professor in the Business and Society programme in the Department of Social Science at York University, Canada. She is the author of Politicized Microfinance: Money, Power and Violence in the Black Americas (2016).

Mark Peacock is Professor in the Business and Society programme at York University, Canada. His research interests include the philosophy of economics and the theory and origins of money. He recently published the book Introducing Money (2013).

Alberto Salazar is Assistant Professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University, Canada. His most recent publications appear in the American Journal of Comparative Law and Osgoode Legal Studies Research Papers.

Sonya Scott is a Sessional Assistant Professor in the Business and Society programme at York University, Canada. She is the author of Architectures of Economic Subjectivity (2013).

Richard Wellen is Associate Professor in the Business and Society programme at York University, Canada. His recent research deals with the political economy of higher education as well as transformations and alternatives in scholarly publishing markets. His books include Making Policy in Turbulent Times (2013, co-edited with Paul Axelrod, Theresa Shanahan and Roopa Deesai-Trilokekar).

Introduction: A Critical Introduction to Business and Society
1. The Emergence of Capitalism in Western Europe
2. The Spread of Capitalism
3. The Corporate Revolution
4. Corporate Governance
5. Corporate Responsibility
6. Corporate Power
7. Global Economy and Varieties of Capitalism
8. Global Governance
9. Global Environmental Change
10. Markets and Economic Order
11. Economics, Capitalism and Business: The Orthodoxy
12. Political Economy and Critiques of Capitalism: Heterodox Perspectives
13. Business, Regulation and Policy
14. Ethics and Business
15. Business and Social Exclusion
16. Resistance and Alternatives to Corporate Capitalism
17. Social Economy
18. Rethinking Ownership: The Market vs. the Commons