Industrial Complex
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The industrial complex is a
socioeconomic Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
concept wherein businesses become entwined in social or political systems or
institution An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...
s, creating or bolstering a profit economy from these systems. Such a complex is said to pursue its own interests regardless of, and often at the expense of, the best interests of society and individuals. Businesses within an industrial complex may have been created to advance a social or political goal, but mostly profit when the goal is not reached. The industrial complex may profit financially, or ideologically, from maintaining socially detrimental or inefficient systems.


History

The concept was popularized by
President Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary ...
in his Jan. 17, 1961 farewell speech. Eisenhower described a "threat to democratic government" called the
military–industrial complex The expression military–industrial complex (MIC) describes the relationship between a country's military and the Arms industry, defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy. A driving fac ...
. This complex involved the military establishment gaining "unwarranted influence" over the economic, political, and spiritual realms of American society due to the profitability of the US arms industry and the number of citizens employed in various branches of military service, the armaments industry, and other businesses providing goods to the
US army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
. The "complex" arises from the creation of a multilateral economy serving military goals, as well as the
paradox A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true or apparently true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictor ...
that arises from the goal of the multilateralism (sustained profit) as antithetical to the military's theoretical goal (peace). In his January 2025 farewell address, President
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
warned about a "
tech–industrial complex The expression "tech–industrial complex" describes the relationship between a country's tech industry and its influence on the concentration of wealth, censorship or manipulation of algorithms to push an agenda, spread of misinformation and d ...
," echoing Eisenhower's farewell address. In the address, Biden argued that the growth of the tech–industrial complex poses threats to American democracy, supports
oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or t ...
, and enables the abuse of power. During Congressional hearings, in both houses, throughout 2024 and 2025, there was extensive debate and discussion regarding the censorship-industrial complex.


Operations

In many cases, the industrial complex refers to a
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...
between an institution's purported socio-political purpose and the financial interests of the businesses and government agencies that profit from the pursuit of such purpose, when achieving the stated purpose would result in a financial loss for those businesses. For example, the purported purpose of the US penal system is to assist offenders in becoming law abiding citizens yet the
prison–industrial complex The prison–industrial complex (PIC) is a term, coined after the " military-industrial complex" of the 1950s, used by scholars and activists to describe the many relationships between institutions of imprisonment (such as prisons, jails, dete ...
subsists upon high inmate populations, thus relying on the penal system's failure to meet its goal of criminal reform and re-entry. In these types of cases, government agencies are often thought to profit financially from institutional industrialization, perhaps eroding their motivation to legislate such institutions in ways that may be socially beneficial. The industrial complex concept has also been used informally to denote the artificial creation, inflation, or manipulation of an institution's societal value in order to increase profit opportunities, especially through specialty businesses and niche products. An example of this is the marriage industrial complex, where demand for wedding dress makers, wedding venues, wedding planners, wedding cake bakers, wedding rentals companies, wedding photographers, etc, is created by the perceived social necessity of an elaborate wedding ceremony.


Examples

*
Military–Industrial Complex The expression military–industrial complex (MIC) describes the relationship between a country's military and the Arms industry, defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy. A driving fac ...
— Businesses that supply the army with uniforms, artillery, etc, profit from the continuation of war and will be hurt by peace. *
Prison–Industrial Complex The prison–industrial complex (PIC) is a term, coined after the " military-industrial complex" of the 1950s, used by scholars and activists to describe the many relationships between institutions of imprisonment (such as prisons, jails, dete ...
— Businesses access labor from prisoners that is cheaper than civilian labor, thus they profit from high incarceration rates. *
Medical–Industrial Complex The medical–industrial complex (MIC) refers to a network of interactions between Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical corporations, health care personnel, and medical conglomerates to supply health care-related products and services for a Pro ...
— Hospitals and pharmaceutical companies require patients to be sick, thus business interests are at odds with the goal of making people healthy. Inflation of drug and hospital prices contribute to the rising expense of healthcare in the United States. *
Animal–Industrial Complex Animal–industrial complex (AIC) is a concept used by activists and scholars to describe what they contend is the systematic and institutionalized exploitation of animals. The term was adapted from the " Military-industrial complex" outlined by ...
— Systematic and institutionalized exploitation of non-human animals, which requires breeding and killing animals in the billions in what has come to be known as the " animal holocaust", threatening human survival and resulting in environmental destruction such as
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
,
ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's ocean. Between 1950 and 2020, the average pH of the ocean surface fell from approximately 8.15 to 8.05. Carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are the primary cause of ...
,
biodiversity loss Biodiversity loss happens when plant or animal species disappear completely from Earth (extinction) or when there is a decrease or disappearance of species in a specific area. Biodiversity loss means that there is a reduction in Biodiversity, b ...
, spread of
zoonotic diseases A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (b ...
, and the
sixth mass extinction The Holocene extinction, also referred to as the Anthropocene extinction or the sixth mass extinction, is an ongoing extinction event caused exclusively by human activities during the Holocene epoch. This extinction event spans numerous families ...
. * Wedding/Marriage–Industrial Complex — Wedding-related businesses and vendors profit from the growing extravagance and cost of weddings and will be negatively impacted by smaller, cheaper events or
elopement Elopement is a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, sometimes involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married without parental approval. A ...
s, thus they perpetuate the pressure on brides to have expensive weddings. * Non-profit industrial complex, or "NPIC", is a term which is used by
social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...
activists to describe the way
non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
s,
governments A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a m ...
, and
businesses Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." A business entity is not necessari ...
are related. The
academic genealogy An academic genealogy (or scientific genealogy) organizes a family tree of scientists and scholars according to mentoring relationships, often in the form of dissertation supervision relationships, and not according to genetic relationships as ...
of the term follows the lineage of what social justice activists and scholars such as
Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of ...
and Mike Davis (no relation) have called the Prison-Industrial Complex, which, too, follows an earlier critique of the military-industrial complex. Many
activists Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...
carry out their work as
employee Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...
s of or with the assistance of non-profit organizations. Many of their goals need money in order to be achieved, and nonprofits are registered with the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
in order to be allowed to receive large amounts of money legally. These activist nonprofits usually get money from even bigger nonprofits, which are connected to big businesses and rich people who control industries. But because many activists criticize things in society that businesses and rich people support, they might not get the money if they are too critical. So in order to stay funded, they may have to change the ideas they have for improving society to be more acceptable to industry. People who believe these kinds of relationships between activists and industries are harmful to activism use the term non-profit industrial complex as a faster way to discuss these relationships, instead of explaining the whole system each time. They have written many articles and books describing the effects of the NPIC by studying patterns of funding or discussing how the goals of some activists changed once their movements began to receive more money.


Applications

The following have been considered examples of industrial complexes: * Academic–industrial complex *
Animal–industrial complex Animal–industrial complex (AIC) is a concept used by activists and scholars to describe what they contend is the systematic and institutionalized exploitation of animals. The term was adapted from the " Military-industrial complex" outlined by ...
* Athletic–industrial complex * Baby or diaper–industrial complex *
Celebrity–industrial complex The celebrity-industrial complex is a social and economic construct which involves a symbiotic relationship between celebrities and business corporations. First proposed by '' Vanity Fair'' columnist Maureen Orth in her book, '' The Importance of ...
* Global–industrial complex * Immigration–industrial complex or border–industrial complex *
Medical–industrial complex The medical–industrial complex (MIC) refers to a network of interactions between Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical corporations, health care personnel, and medical conglomerates to supply health care-related products and services for a Pro ...
or medical–pharmacological industrial complex *
Military–industrial complex The expression military–industrial complex (MIC) describes the relationship between a country's military and the Arms industry, defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy. A driving fac ...
**
Military-digital complex The military-digital complex (MDC) is the militarization of cyber operations by governments and corporations, often through monetary relationships between computer programmers in private companies and the military to combat the threat of cyber ...
** Military-entertainment complex ** Military–industrial–media complex *
Nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
–industrial complex or
NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
–industrial complex *
Peace–industrial complex In political science, political economy, political economics, and peace and conflict studies, referring to the military–industrial complex, the peace–industrial complex defines the industry and economy derived from international development, dev ...
* Pharmaceutical–industrial complex * Politico-media complex * Poverty industrial complex *
Prison–industrial complex The prison–industrial complex (PIC) is a term, coined after the " military-industrial complex" of the 1950s, used by scholars and activists to describe the many relationships between institutions of imprisonment (such as prisons, jails, dete ...
or criminal (justice) industrial complex * White savior industrial complex{{Cite web, last= Cole , first= Teju , date= 21 March 2012 , url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/ , title=The White-Savior Industrial Complex , website=
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...
, language=en-US, access-date=2023-05-20


References

Socioeconomics Pejorative terms