Crisis and hyper-ideological (un)consciousness

SummaryThe purpose here is to carve out a position in debates on management teaching by remembering the origins of the agency theory of the firm. In this speculative piece, I formulate precisely what role agency theory may have played in the ongoing global financial crisis. A reading of a recently published text written by leading agency theorists attests to the deeply ideological origins of their work. My article is an attempt to isolate a case of hyper-ideological (un)consciousness, which seeks to assist in building a collective capacity for recognizing what I hold to be its secret kernel: the prevention of ambitious people from reading the works of Karl Marx – a proponent of agency theory's assumptions about behaviour in capitalism.

Research highlights▶ I reconfigure debate on management teaching and economics’ theory. ▶ I point to global financial crisis as imposing, predicted and explained reality. ▶ I point to the hyperideological origin of the agency theory of the firm. ▶ I conclude that we should teach both agency theory and Marxian economics.