The history of corporations was discussed throughout the second chapter, and there are a few comments to made based upon the different eras of corporations. The first of which is to look at corporations in the age of european colonialism. Corporations often existed not only as mechanisms for profiteering but also to expand the ruling lands for a monarchy, which was often the case for european nations. Colonial rule was often quite harsh for the subjects, and they ventured quite often into labor practices that were either explicitly slave labor, or indentured servitude. Neither of these scenarios were individuals particularly able to access any justice in terms of achieving equitable pay for their labor, retain liberty, or seeking the ability to share in the profits of the corporation for which they worked for. All things that are readily and expected based upon international and national laws alike. Understanding that the historical contexts of corporations generally had little regard for the wellbeing of the labor to an extreme degree, there has been great improvement of the status of labor in the structure of corporate structures, but there is still more to be done to further promote the specific topic of this book: socio-economic rights.
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