Joel Bakan – författare

The Canadian Charter of Rights is composed of words that describe the foundations of a just society: equality, freedom, and democracy. These words of justice have inspired struggles for civil rights, self-determination, trade unionism, the right to vote, and social welfare. Why is it, then, that fifteen years after the entrenchment of the Charter, social injustice remains pervasive in Canada?Joel Bakan explains why the Charter has failed to promote social justice, and why it may even impede it. He argues that the Charter's fine-sounding words of justice are 'just words.' Freedom, equality and democracy are fundamental principles of social justice. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms entrenches them in Canada's highest law, the constitution. Yet the Charter has failed to promote social justice in Canada. In Just Words, Joel Bakan explains why. Sophisticated in its analyses but clearly written and accessible, Just Words is cutting-edge commentary by one of Canada's rising intellectuals.

The Canadian Charter of Rights is composed of words that describe the foundations of a just society: equality, freedom, and democracy. These words of justice have inspired struggles for civil rights, self-determination, trade unionism, the right to vote, and social welfare. Why is it, then, that fifteen years after the entrenchment of the Charter, social injustice remains pervasive in Canada?Joel Bakan explains why the Charter has failed to promote social justice, and why it may even impede it. He argues that the Charter's fine-sounding words of justice are 'just words.' Freedom, equality and democracy are fundamental principles of social justice. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms entrenches them in Canada's highest law, the constitution. Yet the Charter has failed to promote social justice in Canada. In Just Words, Joel Bakan explains why. Sophisticated in its analyses but clearly written and accessible, Just Words is cutting-edge commentary by one of Canada's rising intellectuals.

In Just Rights, distinguished legal scholar Joel Bakan argues that our courts are obliged by the Canadian Charter to protect social justice and equality as core democratic and constitutional values, especially as they are increasingly vulnerable to neglect and attack in times of surging right-wing populism and neo-liberal priorities. Canadian courts have made the claim that Charter rights should be interpreted broadly and generously to reflect and reinforce the fundamental rights of the Canadian body politic; however, they typically stop short of meaningfully implementing this crucial ambition. Bakan contends that it is time for courts to move beyond this practice of inaction. Just Rights builds upon existing principles of Charter law to demonstrate that Canadian courts can and should recognize how Charter rights oblige governments to act positively in aid of fairness and inclusion, and that they further necessitate private actors to respect them.Unique in Canadian constitutional scholarship, this book offers a clear framework for judicial protection and promotion of social justice under the Charter, with evidence as to how it grows from existing principles, respects real-world limits on judicial power, and confronts the ideological forces of illiberalism and neo-liberalism that threaten equality and democracy today.

Over the past two decades corporations have increasingly used crises to portray themselves as institutions that fundamentally care about people and the planet, not just private wealth. Deploying ‘carewashing’ to moralize operations, they seek to obscure the social, political and environmental damage they cause. Now such carewashing is under fire - from the left and the right. Attacks on ‘woke capitalism’, corporate philanthropy, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and sustainability have shaken the moralizing corporation . With its cross-disciplinary contributions, the book interrogates the corporate turn to and away from ‘care’, offering new insights and alternatives to the carewashing corporation.

Over the past two decades corporations have increasingly used crises to portray themselves as institutions that fundamentally care about people and the planet, not just private wealth. Deploying ‘carewashing’ to moralize operations, they seek to obscure the social, political and environmental damage they cause. Now such carewashing is under fire - from the left and the right. Attacks on ‘woke capitalism’, corporate philanthropy, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and sustainability have shaken the moralizing corporation . With its cross-disciplinary contributions, the book interrogates the corporate turn to and away from ‘care’, offering new insights and alternatives to the carewashing corporation.

New Edition What would the world be like if its ruling elite was insane? The most powerful class of institution on earth, the corporation, is by any reasonable measure hopelessly and unavoidably demented. The corporation lies, steals and kills without remorse and without hesitation when it serves the interests of its shareholders to do so. It obeys the law only when the costs of crime exceed the profits. Corporate social responsibility is impossible except insofar as it is insincere. At once a diagnosis and a course of treatment, The Corporation is essential reading for those who want to understand the nature of the modern business system. It is a sober and careful attempt to describe the world as it is, rather than as corporate public relations departments would have us believe it to be. It reveals a world more exotic and more terrifying than any of us could have imagined. And although a billion dollar industry is trying to convince you otherwise, the corporations that surround us are not our friends. Charming and plausible though they are, they can only ever see us as resources to be used. This is the real world, not science fiction, and it really is us or them.