Over the last 150 years, the corporation has moved from a limited-use legal tool to the world's dominant economic and social institution. The Documentary (2003)

The law requires corporate directors to act in the best interest of the corporation, which is almost always defined as maximizing short-term wealth for shareholders. This makes genuine "corporate social responsibility" technically illegal if it doesn't serve the bottom line.

A consistent failure to consider the feelings or safety of others.

The central argument of both the book and film is that the modern corporation is a . Bakan, a law professor, argues that because corporations are legally mandated to prioritize shareholder profit above all else, they mirror the clinical traits of a psychopath :