Organization Theory Outline: Expanded Version

Chapter Outline

Part One: State Capitalist Intervention in the Market
Chapter One: A Critical Survey of Orthodox Views on Economy of Scale
Appendix 1A. Economy of Scale in Development Economics
Chapter Two: A Survey of Empirical Literature on Economy of Scale
A. Economies of Firm Size
B. Economies of Plant Size
C. The Comparative Significance of Scale Economies and Organizational Efficiency
D. Increased Distribution Costs
E. The Link Between Size and Innovation
F. Economy of Scale in Agriculture
Conclusion
Chapter Three: State Policies Promoting Centralization and Large Organizational Size
I. The Corporate Transformation of Capitalism in the Nineteenth Century
A. The Nineteenth Century Corporate Legal Revolution
B. Subsidies to Transportation and Communication Infrastructure
C. Patents and Copyrights
D. Tariffs
II. Twentieth Century State Capitalism
A. Cartelizing Regulations
B. Tax Policy
C. The Corporate Liberal Pact with Labor
D. The Socialization of Corporate Cost
E. State Action to Absorb Surplus Output
F. Neoliberal Foreign Policy

Part Two: Systemic Effects of Centralization and Excessive Organizational Size
Chapter Four: Systemic Effects of State-Induced Economic Centralization and Large Organizational Size
A. Radical Monopoly and Its Effects on the Individual
B. Systemic Effects on Institutional Culture
C. The Large Organization and Conscript Clienteles
D. The New Middle Class and the Professional-Managerial Revolution
Postscript: Crisis Tendencies
Appendix 4A. Journalism as Stenography

Part Three: Internal Effects of Organizational Size Above That Required for Optimum Efficiency
Chapter Five: Knowledge and Information Problems in the Large Organization
A. The Volume of Data
B. The Distortion of Information Flow by Power
Conclusion and Segue
Appendix 5A. Toilet Paper as Paradigm
Chapter Six: Agency and Incentive Problems in the Large Organization
Summary
Chapter Seven: Economic Calculation in the Corporate Commonwealth (the corporation as planned economy)
A. The Divorce of Entrepreneurial from Technical Knowledge
B. Mises vs. Hayek on Distributed Knowledge
C. Rothbard's Application of Mises' Calculation Argument to the Private Sector
Conclusion
Chapter Eight: Managerialism, Irrationality and Authoritarianism in the Large Organization
A. The Corporate Form and Managerialism
B. Self-Serving Policies for "Cost-Cutting," "Quality" and "Efficiency"
C. The Authoritarian Workplace: Increased Hierarchy and Surveillance
D. Authoritarianism: Contract Feudalism
E. Authoritarianism: The Hegemony of "Professionalism"
F. Motivational Propaganda as a Substitute for Real Incentives
Appendix 8A. Blaming Workers for the Results of Mismanagement
Chapter Nine: Special Agency Problems of Labor (internal crisis tendencies of the large organization)
Introduction
A. The Special Agency Problems of Labor
B. Labor Struggle as Asymmetric Warfare
C. The Growing Importance of Human Capital: Peer Production vs. the Corporate Gatekeepers
D. Austrian Criticism of the Usefulness of Unions
Conclusion
Appendix 9A. Sabotage in a London Nightclub: A Case Study
Appendix 9B. Yochai Benkler on Open-Mouth Sabotage: Diebold and Sinclair Media as Case Studies in Media Swarming
Chapter Ten: Attempts at Reform from Within (Management Fads)
A. New Wine in Old Bottles
B. Lip Service and Business as Usual
C. Management by Stress
D. Dumbing Down
Conclusion
Appendix 10A. The Military Origins of Quality Control

Part Four: Conjectures on Decentralist Free Market Alternatives
Chapter Eleven: The Abolition of Privilege
A. Reciprocity
B. Privilege and Inequality
C. Specific Forms of Privilege, and the Effect of Their Abolition
Appendix 11A. Reciprocity and Thick Libertarianism
Chapter Twelve: The Cost Principle
Chapter Thirteen: Dissolution of the State
Chapter Fourteen: Decentralized Production Technology
Introduction: Basic Goals and Values
A. Multiple Purpose Production Technology
B. Polytechnic
C. Mumford's Periodization of Technological History: Eotechnic, Paleotechnic, and Neotechnic
D. Decentralized Agriculture
Chapter Fifteen: Social Organization of Production (cooperatives and peer production)
Chapter Sixteen: Social Organization of Distribution and Exchange
Chapter Seventeen: Mutual Aid

Bibliography

Revised Chapter Four Draft

This is a considerably rearranged and expanded (about 50% longer) version of Chapter Four of the org theory manuscript.

Chapter Four. Systemic Effects of State-Induced Economic Centralization and Large Organizational Size

It includes a lengthy section on the rise of the New Middle Class and its effect on institutional culture.

Bleg for New Distributist Non-Profit

Richard Aleman, web editor for the Distributist publication The ChesterBelloc Mandate, informs me that he and his associates at that publication are in the process of filing for non-profit status.

The organization's general purpose will be similar to that of the original Distributist League: the distribution of educational materials, and sponsorship of lectures and conferences.

They are currently compiling a mailing list for updates on the organization's activities. They promise that your information will be kept confidential and not shared with third parties. If you're interested, you can send an email with your city, state/province, and country of residence (no requirement to provide your name if you prefer not to), to societyfordistributism@gmail.com.

BTW, a post by John Medaille at the same blog includes this quote, which readers of my work will understand is preaching to the choir for me:

Three-fourths of all "social justice" issues are simply a matter of accurate cost-accounting; that is, of allocating costs back to those who cause the costs.