Working for the Brand

Josh Bornstein asks how our major corporations have come to exercise repressive control over the lives of their employees, and explores what can be done to repair the greatest threat to democracy – the out-of-control corporation.

When you go to work, you agree to exchange your labour in exchange for your pay packet, right? Actually, you may not realise it, but you are also selling your rights to free speech and to participate in democracy. Welcome to corporate cancel culture, a burgeoning phenomenon that is routinely ignored in debates about free speech. If you work for a large company, it will not allow you to say or do anything that harms its brand – at or outside work. If you transgress and attract controversy—whether for cracking a joke, a Facebook like, or a political post on TikTok—you can be shamed, sacked, and blacklisted.

In the twenty-first century, major corporations have become the most powerful institution in the world – more powerful than many nations. That unchecked, anti-democratic power is reflected in the gaming of the political system, the weakening of governments, and the repressive control of the lives of employees. While their behaviour has deteriorated, corporations have invested heavily in ethically washed brands, claiming to be saving the planet and doing good. As Josh Bornstein argues, we would not tolerate a government that censored, controlled, and punished us in this way, so why do we meekly accept the growing authoritarianism of the companies that we work for?

This is a landmark work. Working for the Brand is exhilarating, forensic, funny, shocking, and deeply humane. It is a step towards liberating us from the existential threat faced by both individuals and democracies from unethical corporate control over our lives, starting with our right to express ourselves...

'Bornstein writes fluidly, anecdotally, sometimes amusingly, occasionally urgently... Bornstein rightly grounds freedom of debate in the bedrock of democracy. But democracy is messy.' - Gideon Haigh, Inside Story

'So many things are made sense of in this book. It is witty, profound, enlightening, and absolutely indispensable. A bravura examination of our times and a glorious read.' - Anna Funder, author of Wifedom

'A sophisticated, rage-inducing, rollercoaster of a read. The power and control tactics Bornstein exposes are at once shocking, and altogether unsurprising. This devastating critique of late-stage capitalism is both thrilling and horrifying, because behind every story there are real lives at stake.' - Jess Hill, journalist and author of See What You Made Me Do

'There is something in this book to offend almost everyone.' - Joe Aston, author of The Chairman's Lounge