Babson College history professor James Hoopes will speak at the Boston Public Library, Rabb Lecture Hall, Copley Square, Wednesday, February 22, 6:00-7:00 p.m., about why the American Dream has worked out better for corporations than for individuals and how – he believes – a balance can be restored.

In his new book Corporate Dreams: Big Business in American Democracy from the Great Depression to the Great Recession (Rutgers University Press; October 2011) Hoopes proposes that Americans need to radically rethink their relationships with big business and the government.

Rather than buying into the corporate notion of “values-based leadership,” we should view corporate leaders with the same healthy suspicion that our democratic political tradition teaches us to view our political leaders.

Unfortunately, the trend is moving the other way. Corporate notions of leadership are invading our democratic political culture when it should be the reverse.

See Hoopes Blog: When A Leader Overreaches: JFK’s Pyrrhic Victory Over U.S. Steel

Hoopes video: The American Dream Was A Corporate Dream

Hoopes is Murata Professor of Business Ethics at Babson College. He has written several books on subjects ranging from business history to American political theory, including Hail to the CEO: George W. Bush and the Failure of Moral Leadership.

Contact: Kirstein Business Library at 617-859-2142