Varieties of Deliberation: Framing Plurality in Political CSR

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Cedric E. Dawkins
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Labor Relations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Csr ◽  
Political Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Modes Of Engagement ◽  
Extended Notion

This article argues that the concept of deliberation is construed too narrowly in political corporate social responsibility (CSR) and that a concept of deliberation for political CSR should err toward useful speech acts rather than reciprocity and charity. It draws from the political philosophy, labor relations, and business ethics literatures to outline a framework for an extended notion of deliberative engagement. The characters of deliberative behavior and deliberative environment are held to generate four modes of engagement: strategic deliberation, unitarist deliberation, pluralist deliberation, and deliberative activism. The article concludes by arguing that political CSR will be better positioned to realize its potential by moving away from primarily consensus-centered objectives to a more responsive range of deliberative goals and practice.

The Political Perspective of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Critical Research Agenda

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glen Whelan
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Practical Importance ◽  
The Political ◽  
Critical Research ◽  
Political Perspective ◽  
Political Csr ◽  
Political Model ◽  
Corporate Social

ABSTRACT:I here advance a critical research agenda for the political perspective of corporate social responsibility (Political CSR). I argue that whilst the ‘Political’ CSR literature is notable for both its conceptual novelty and practical importance, its development has been hamstrung by four ambiguities, conflations and/or oversights. More positively, I argue that ‘Political’ CSR should be conceived as one potentialformof globalization, and not as aconsequenceof ‘globalization’; that contemporary Western MNCs should be presumed to engage in CSR for instrumental reasons; that ‘Political’ CSR should be associated with a corresponding ‘political’ model of corporate governance; and that both a ‘Rawlsian’ and ‘Habermasian’ perspective of Political CSR are different from ‘Political’ CSR. In concluding, I use these four critiques to identify a number of areas within which increasingly robust and sophisticated positive and normative theories of Political CSR are required.

Pluralism in Political Corporate Social Responsibility

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 649-678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jukka Mäkinen ◽  
Arno Kourula
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Classical Liberalism ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Political Csr ◽  
Political Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Corporate Social

ABSTRACT:Within corporate social responsibility (CSR), the exploration of the political role of firms (political CSR) has recently experienced a revival. We review three key periods of political CSR literature—classic, instrumental, and new political CSR—and use the Rawlsian conceptualization of division of moral labor within political systems to describe each period’s background political theories. The three main arguments of the paper are as follows. First, classic CSR literature was more pluralistic in terms of background political theories than many later texts. Second, instrumental CSR adopted classical liberalism and libertarian laissez-faire as its structural logic. Third, new political CSR, based on a strong globalist transition of responsibilities and tasks from governments to companies, lacks a conceptualization of division of moral labor that is needed to fully depart from a classical liberalist position. We end by providing a set of recommendations to develop pluralism in political CSR.

Talk Ain’t Cheap: Political CSR and the Challenges of Corporate Deliberation

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron Sabadoz ◽  
Abraham Singer
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Corporate Context ◽  
Political Csr ◽  
Political Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Firm Profit

ABSTRACT:Deliberative democratic theory, commonly used to explore questions of “political” corporate social responsibility (PCSR), has become prominent in the literature. This theory has been challenged previously for being overly sanguine about firm profit imperatives, but left unexamined is whether corporate contexts are appropriate contexts for deliberative theory in the first place. We explore this question using the case of Starbucks’ “Race Together” campaign to show that significant challenges exist to corporate deliberation, even in cases featuring genuinely committed firms. We return to the underlying social theory to show that this is not an isolated case: for-profit firms are predictably hostile contexts for deliberation, and significant normative and strategic problems can be expected should deliberative theory be imported uncritically to corporate contexts. We close with recent advances in deliberative democratic theory that might help update the PCSR project, and accommodate the application of deliberation to the corporate context, albeit with significant alterations.

scholarly journals Toward Political Explanation of Change in Corporate Responsibility: Political Scholarship on CSR and the Case of Palm Oil Biofuels

2020 ◽  
pp. 000765032091591
Author(s):  
Ville-Pekka Sorsa ◽  
Martin Fougère
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ontological Commitments ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Biofuel Industry ◽  
Research Objects ◽  
Normative Issues ◽  
Corporate Social

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been recently conceptualized and studied as a political phenomenon. Most debates in this scholarship have thus far focused on normative issues. Less attention has been paid to the explanatory potential of CSR research grounded in political theory and philosophy. In this article, we conduct a pragmatist reading of political scholarship on CSR and seek to deploy existing knowledge for research pursuing political explanation. We argue that the political ontologies that underlie scholarship on CSR can be used to transform normative and descriptive research also for explanatory uses. We show how ontologies vary in terms of potential research objects and scopes of political explanation, and argue that the main types of political-ontological stances adopted in scholarship on CSR, foundational and post-foundational stances, offer explanatory analysis of different schematic guidelines. Our pragmatist reading of previous research and an empirical case illustration of political explanation of change in corporate responsibility in the biofuel industry demonstrate the opportunities, limitations, and challenges different political-ontological commitments provide for political explanation.

Moving out of the comfort zone? Trade union revitalisation and corporate social responsibility

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-155
Author(s):  
Michael Gold ◽  
Lutz Preuss ◽  
Chris Rees
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
European Study ◽  
Comfort Zone ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Corporate Social

In recent decades, trade unions have employed a range of revitalisation strategies aimed at regaining lost power. A relatively neglected area within the literature on revitalisation concerns union engagement with corporate social responsibility. Locating trade unions within a classification of civil society organisations from the political science literature, this article presents a typology of the multiple ways in which trade unions can engage with corporate social responsibility. Data from a pan-European study across 11 countries are used to illustrate the various ways in which unions are attempting to move out of their traditional ‘comfort zone’ with respect to corporate social responsibility, each of which presents them with both new opportunities and challenges. We show how trade unions are working on different ‘pressure points’ and act as purposeful agents within certain organisational parameters and particular national frameworks. In sum, the article considers the potential that corporate social responsibility provides for trade unions, and reflects on the likely direction of revitalisation debates.

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