Ben Waber reviewed Politics at Work by Alexander Hertel-Fernandez
An Incredibly Rigorous Examination of Corporate Political Mobilization in the US
5 stars
This book is an impressive examination of a surprisingly poorly researched issue - efforts by companies to use their employees to bring about political action. While this has deep roots in the US, its modern incarnation - starting with NAM and GE's mobilization of Ronald Reagan for internal events - presaged a new age of technology-enabled, increasingly effective mobilization activities. Hertel-Fernandez looks at this from multiple angles, bringing together controlled experiments, surveys, macro statistics, and media reports to provide a holistic view of how this activity has evolved over recent decades. He paints a somewhat dire but still nuanced view of these efforts, also providing promising policy recommendations for different stakeholders. Highly recommend
This book is an impressive examination of a surprisingly poorly researched issue - efforts by companies to use their employees to bring about political action. While this has deep roots in the US, its modern incarnation - starting with NAM and GE's mobilization of Ronald Reagan for internal events - presaged a new age of technology-enabled, increasingly effective mobilization activities. Hertel-Fernandez looks at this from multiple angles, bringing together controlled experiments, surveys, macro statistics, and media reports to provide a holistic view of how this activity has evolved over recent decades. He paints a somewhat dire but still nuanced view of these efforts, also providing promising policy recommendations for different stakeholders. Highly recommend