Pervasive Powers. The Politics of Corporate Authority. Introduction

One specific aim of this book is to highlight the pervasive powers of corporations, which by virtue of their methods and magnitude, possess an unprecedented capacity to transform and shape the social and physical world. The concept of "pervasive powers" relates to the idea of diffuse and generalized powers with both macro and micro dimensions. These economic actors contribute to the production of world views, major decisions, legislations and teleological discourses, while at the same time remaining active at the local scale, contributing to technical standards, implementation methods, etc. These pervasive powers are consequently exercised in a very wide variety of places such as regulatory arenas, the courts, or influential professional circles. Multiple smaller or less considered social spaces also serve as pervasive dissemination interfaces for these powers without necessarily being immediately perceptible. Yet these powers are never established for all eternity. On the contrary, they require intensive and continuous work by companies and their intermediaries.