Corporate responsibility or corporate power? CSR and the shaping of the definitions and solutions to our public problems

Abstract

In this article, I will examine the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is increasingly presented as the socially acceptable way to deal with ethical, social and environmental issues stemming from economic activities. Using a public problems framework of analysis, I will build upon empirical work in the field of bio-engineering in order to argue that, on the contrary, CSR is a contentious notion. I will demonstrate that this is because CSR increases corporations’ involvement in the shaping of the definitions and solutions to our public problems and is thus based on a distribution of power and responsibility which is seen as potentially securing the power of corporations rather than offsetting it. In addition, this distribution does not correspond to most social actors’ representation of how power and responsibility should be shared in our society.

Keywords:

• CSR
• responsibility
• power
• ethics
• bio-engineering

Notes

1. http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/49/toptenfacts/pdf/B49-Top10Facts-French.pdf.

2. http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/issues/311/ge-foods/regulations.

3. http://www.biofortified.org/resources/genetic-engineering-companies/.

4. For example, in the 2015 SustainAbility Leaders Survey: http://www.sustainability.com/library/the-2015-sustain-ability-leaders#.VZRK2fl_Oko.

Additional information

Funding

This study received financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).