Description
Book SynopsisA provocative history of how corporate titans in the 1920s used a massive public relations campaign to transform public opinion on big business. In the early twentieth century, as Americans erupted in righteous indignation over the flagrant abuses of big business, utility executives faced an existential crisis. With calls for strict regulation or outright government ownership of utilities, how could streetcar, electricity, and telephone executives thwart municipal ownership, rein in regulation, and secure huge profits? In Courteous Capitalism, Daniel Robert reveals how utility executives answered this question by launching the largest nongovernmental public relations campaign the nation had ever seen. In part, this campaign encouraged managers to compel their clerks to exude courtesy, sunshine, and patience toward customers. Rather than bribe the few, executives would convert the many using a combination of emotional labor and improved customer service. At the same time, executives o
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Introduction
1. Courteous Capitalism Begins
2. Courteous Capitalism Intensifies
3. The Architecture of Consent
4. Customer Stock Ownership as Corporate Political Strategy
5. Making the News
6. Subverting Civics
Conclusion
Notes
Index
