For decades, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged has stood as a manifesto for libertarian capitalism—a system built on rational self-interest, individualism, and the moralization of greed. But as climate crises intensify, economic inequality deepens, and democratic institutions falter, the question looms large: Can capitalism, as we know it, deliver a just and sustainable future?
This is the challenge taken up in the Journal of Management Studies Special Issue, “Atlas Unplugged”, which revisits the philosophical foundations of capitalism and explores alternative visions for organizing business and society. Collectively, the authors argue that management scholarship must move beyond passive critique and actively contribute to imagining—and implementing—better systems. This argument can be extended beyond the academy, with a challenge to practitioners a/nd policy makers to think beyond convention and established practices in order to generate innovative approaches that address the underlying causes of inequality.
What’s Wrong with the Current Model?
Rand’s vision of capitalism celebrates neoliberal governance, privileging shareholder primacy and marketization. While total wealth has soared, the benefits have been concentrated among the few, leaving marginalized communities to bear the brunt of ecological destruction, poverty, and systemic violence.
The Special Issue identifies three urgent tasks for management research:
- Diagnose dysfunctions: Explain why inequalities, individualism, and exploitative practices persist.
- Reimagine capitalism: Develop models that enhance societal well-being rather than harm it.
Fresh Perspectives: Beyond Rand’s Moral Code
The collection introduces creative alternatives that challenge the assumptions of liberal market capitalism:
- Indigenous Approaches: Papers by Arjalies and Banerjee and Maher show how Indigenous ontologies reject extractive logics, emphasizing kinship with land and community. Concepts like Two-Eyed Seeing—weaving Indigenous and Western worldviews—inform innovations such as Conservation Impact Bonds, which value regeneration over exploitation. Resistance movements, like the Zapatista-inspired occupation of a water bottling plant in Mexico, illustrate how “time-less organizing” and radical democracy can counter corporate dominance.
- Ethics of Care: Friedrich and Lüthy argue for organizing around relationships and interdependence rather than self-interest. Their ethnography of a worker cooperative demonstrates how caring practices—inquiring, deliberating, responding—can navigate tensions and foster solidarity.
- Self-Determination Theory: Howard reframes debates on Universal Basic Income (UBI), highlighting its potential to meet psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness. Moving beyond hyper-rational economic metrics, this perspective prioritizes human flourishing over mere labour participation.
- Marketization Critiques: Gruban and Feix explore why stakeholders often support market practices that violate their values. Their analysis reveals socio-cognitive mechanisms—dependence, buffering, adjustment—that sustain neoliberal logics, even against moral convictions.
- Systemic Racism and Violence: Ahmed’s study of Bangladesh’s garment industry exposes “infernal places” where authoritarian regimes and global value chains normalize violence and dispossession. Similarly, Lobbedez et al. theorize waste as a technique of power, showing how commodification and neglect perpetuate inequality and ecological harm.
A New Lens: Place and Intersectionality
In the Introduction, Delbridge, Zietsma, Suddaby, Chowdhury and Wickert (the guest editors) propose combining two critical perspectives to understand capitalism systemically:
- Place: Beyond geography, place is a relational concept shaped by history, politics, and community. It reveals how global capitalist forces manifest locally—whether in Indigenous lands resisting extraction or urban neighbourhoods suffering environmental degradation.
- Intersectionality: Capitalism interacts with race, gender, class, and other identities to produce layered inequalities. For example, women of colour often face compounded exploitation in global supply chains, while unpaid care work remains invisible yet essential to sustaining the system.
Together, these lenses illuminate how capitalism’s effects differ across contexts and identities, offering a foundation for designing inclusive alternatives.
Implications for Future Research and Practice
The Special Issue doesn’t stop at critique—it calls for action. Key research directions include:
- Guardrails for Capitalism: Explore regulatory frameworks like the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, strengthen labour movements, and assess market forces (e.g., impact investing, climate risk pricing) as levers for change.
- Norm Shifts and Education: Investigate how social movements and management education can challenge neoliberal norms and embed social purpose in business schools.
- Alternative Models: Study the scalability of regenerative finance, cooperatives, and Benefit Corporations, ensuring marginalized voices are central to design and governance.
- Identity-Based Resistance: Examine how local and intersectional movements—from Indigenous sovereignty campaigns to feminist economics—can disrupt exploitative structures and inspire systemic transformation.
Why This Matters
As others have commented, It may be easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. Yet imagining—and enacting—alternatives is no longer optional. From biodiversity loss to rising authoritarianism, the costs of clinging to Rand’s ideal of unconstrained individualism are clear. Management scholars have a unique opportunity—and responsibility—to help contribute to the building of economic systems that prioritize care, justice, and sustainability.
The question is not whether capitalism will change, but how—and whether we can help steer that change toward a future where prosperity is shared, ecosystems are protected, and human dignity is upheld.
