Treating the corporation as if it were a human person is ubiquitous in contemporary political, cultural and legal constructions of the corporation -- from the creation of 'brands' and the representation of the corporation in fiction, to statutory and common law rules of corporate liability. It dominates both academic approaches and popular representations of the corporation, from discussions of corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility and 'corporate greed'. This book interrogates the concept of corporate 'personhood' to understand the nature of corporate criminality and the prospects for more effective corporate control. Linking debates in criminology to broader claims around corporate social responsibility, it provides an understanding of the key ideas that explain the role of the corporation in the global economy.
