Critical scholarship views corporate accumulation – a fundamental driver of capitalism – as inherently dispossessive, involving violence and expropriation. However, dispossession also involves practices of legitimation that are related to coercive violence in complex ways. We examine the roles of dispossession and legitimation practices as constitutive of corporate accumulation. Specifically, we analyze how dispossession is connected to the appropriation of legitimacy as a symbolic resource which justifies and enables violence and expropriation. Taking an historical perspective, we examine a paradigmatic case of corporate accumulation: the Dutch East India Company’s monopolization of spices on the Banda islands (1599-1621). In this process, the Dutch moved from 1) initial instances of legitimation to 2) legitimation to enforce Dutch-Bandanese agreements, to 3) legitimation to enable dispossession of the Bandanese, to finally 4) wholesale dispossession of the Bandanese. These four phases reflect a mechanism that we call ‘civilized dispossession’, which describes the escalating three-way interplay between Dutch practices of dispossession and legitimation and Bandanese resistance, and which was driven by institutional experimentation and multi-level institutional work. Integrating institutional and critical perspectives, the notion of ‘civilized dispossession’ provides a novel theorization of corporate accumulation, elucidating the mechanisms by which corporations promote the diffusion of capitalism.

批判性学术认为企业积累——资本主义的基本驱动力——本质上是剥夺性的，涉及暴力和征用。然而，剥夺也涉及以复杂方式与强制暴力相关的合法化实践。我们研究了剥夺和合法化实践作为企业积累的构成要素的作用。具体来说，我们分析了剥夺如何与合法性的占有相关联，作为一种象征性资源，为暴力和征用辩护并使其成为可能。从历史的角度来看，我们考察了一个企业积累的典型案例：荷兰东印度公司垄断了班达群岛的香料（1599-1621）。在这个过程中，荷兰人从 1) 最初的合法化到 2) 执行荷兰-班达人协议的合法化，到 3) 使剥夺班达人的合法化，最终 4) 全面剥夺班达人。这四个阶段反映了一种我们称之为“文明剥夺”的机制，它描述了荷兰的剥夺和合法化实践与班达人的抵抗之间不断升级的三向相互作用，它是由制度试验和多层次的制度工作驱动的。结合制度和批判的观点，“文明剥夺”的概念提供了一种新的公司积累理论，阐明了公司促进资本主义扩散的机制。到最后 4) 批发剥夺班达人。这四个阶段反映了一种我们称之为“文明剥夺”的机制，它描述了荷兰的剥夺和合法化实践与班达人的抵抗之间不断升级的三向相互作用，这是由制度实验和多层次制度工作驱动的。结合制度和批判的观点，“文明剥夺”的概念提供了一种新的公司积累理论，阐明了公司促进资本主义扩散的机制。到最后 4) 批发剥夺班达人。这四个阶段反映了一种我们称之为“文明剥夺”的机制，它描述了荷兰的剥夺和合法化实践与班达人的抵抗之间不断升级的三向相互作用，它是由制度试验和多层次的制度工作驱动的。结合制度和批判的观点，“文明剥夺”的概念提供了一种新的公司积累理论，阐明了公司促进资本主义扩散的机制。这是由制度试验和多层次制度工作驱动的。结合制度和批判的观点，“文明剥夺”的概念提供了一种新的公司积累理论，阐明了公司促进资本主义扩散的机制。这是由制度试验和多层次制度工作驱动的。结合制度和批判的观点，“文明剥夺”的概念提供了一种新的公司积累理论，阐明了公司促进资本主义扩散的机制。