Corporativismo fascista e studi aziendali negli anni trenta: ri?essi dell’ideologia e delle prassi corporative nello sviluppo delle dottrine economico-aziendali (Fascist 'Corporative economy' and business studies in italy during the Thirties an exploration on the relations between corporatism and the development of business studies)

This paper focuses on the fascist era in Italy (1922-1943). The fascist movement developed in Italy in a European context of ideological, social and economic crises following WWI. Its alternative ideology contrasted with the liberal ideologies of democracy (in politics) and free market ideologies (in economy), and proposed the setting of a ‘totalitarian regime’ and the building of a ‘corporative economy’, which aimed to transform the economic, social and political organization of Italian society. This paper aims at exploring how these strong ideological pressures acted within the ?eld of accounting and business studies, which was well grounded in the Italian pre-fascist liberal environment of economic culture. The paper shows how the peculiarity of the ideology of ‘corporative economy’ in?uenced the development of subjects, new issues and perspectives of the Italian accounting and business ‘discourse’. The paper shows how the peculiarity of the ideology of ‘corporative economy’ (di?erent from that of ‘socialist economy’) did not fail to create opportunities, even in the late-industrialized Italian environment, for the development of new issues and perspectives of studies and practices in accounting and organization. These studies constituted an important heritage for the development of Italian accounting business studies and practices after the War.