If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Have you ever wondered why the real power in modern society shifted away from wealthy owners and into the hands of a new, unexpected ruling class?
- Did you know that a book written in 1941 accurately predicted the shift in global power that still shapes our economy and politics today?
- Are you curious about who truly controls the world’s major organizations if it’s no longer the traditional capitalists or the state?
Listen to The Managerial Revolution — Free Audiobook
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Key Takeaways from The Managerial Revolution
- Understand how the rising dominance of managers and bureaucrats signals a historic shift from a capitalist society to a managerial one.
- Discover the defining features of capitalism, where goods are produced for profit rather than need, and money acts as capital to generate more wealth.
- Uncover the false assumptions about capitalism's permanence, learning that it is a relatively recent invention rather than a system permanently hardwired into human nature.
- Recognize why continuous mass unemployment serves as a historical warning sign that a dominant social structure is breaking down and nearing its end.
- Find out why communism failed to replace capitalism in Russia, ironically creating an even more heavily class-bound society with extreme wealth disparity.
Learning Tools
Reinforce what you learned from The Managerial Revolution
Mind Map
The Managerial Revolution
Characteristics of Capitalism
Commoditization
Money as Capital
Profit Motive
Class Divide
The Decline of Capitalism
Flawed Assumptions
Mass Unemployment
Systemic Failure
The Failure of Communism
Russian Experiment
Worsened Inequality
Loss of Freedom
The Managerial Economy
State Ownership
Redefining the Ruling Class
Preferential Wealth
Rise of the Managers
Who They Are
Corporate Complexity
Diluted Ownership
Government and Absolute Power
Expanding State Role
Capitalist Displacement
Bureaucratic Dominance
Totalitarian Threat
Quiz — Test Your Understanding
Question 1 of 6
According to the text, what is a defining characteristic of production in a capitalist society?
The Managerial Revolution — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Recommendation
Chapter 2: Capitalist society has multiple defining traits.
Chapter 3: There is no proof that capitalism will endure, and strong signs indicate it won’t any longer.
Chapter 4: The disastrous Soviet experiment with communism shows it will not replace capitalism elsewhere.
Chapter 5: Managers, not capitalists, will soon be the dominant class in a state-run economy.
Chapter 6: Growing organizational and technical complexity has produced a new managerial class.
Chapter 7: As governments took control of vital industries, managers’ power became absolute.
The Managerial Revolution Summary & Overview
Drawing on powerful arguments and demonstrating extraordinary insights, in The Managerial Revolution (1941) James Burnham investigates the rise of a new ruling class – the managers – who promised to unseat wealthy capitalists from their prime position in the mid-twentieth-century economy. Although written over seven decades ago, the themes and arguments from this book still resonate in today’s society.
Who Should Listen to The Managerial Revolution?
- History buffs looking for fresh insights into the mid-twentieth century
- Anyone curious about how a capitalist economy works
- Those looking for a new perspective on current affairs
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