Narrative and ideological capture
An original sin of sorts is the ubiquitousness and acceptance of corporate capture as an economic, political, and social norm.
Economic elites co-opt academia, science, electoral discourse, legislatures, broadcast media and print journalism, and other spaces that produce ideas, teach, argue, disseminate, and generally influence public opinion. The capture of academic institutions, for example, which is not well-studied save select examples, involves corporations funding research that legitimizes their operations.
According to Conectas (Brazil), “Through ‘ideological’ capture, companies [use] the media, advertising, and the production of ‘scientific’ knowledge to disseminate green concerns or a supposed socio-environmental concern, even when their activities [are] extremely damaging to the environment or to surrounding communities, or even when energy generated is entirely geared towards maintaining large carbon-intensive activities and companies, such as the agro-industry.”
The impression is that neoliberal ideologies “bake in” and normalize capture as a standard of political economy and doing business, and that narratives such as the rights of corporations, property rights, intellectual property rights, and so on run deep and contrary to transparency, accountability, and other reform efforts.