Ontology, Relational Ethics, and Corporations
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Beschreibung
This book offers a unique exploration and analysis of social responsibility and associated ethical concepts used by business and financial organizations. Mussell lays out the argument that a realist analysis of social responsibility reveals caring relations underpinning this ethical behavior. The combination of a realist social ontology with contemporary relational care ethics provides the theoretical framework needed to successfully explore the ethics of social responsibility. She then applies this realist caring relations argument to three specific contexts in which social responsibility is explicitly evident - including corporate social responsibility, socially responsible investment, and the legal concept of the fiduciary. By tracing the historical development of each concept – including how economic methodology has influenced interpretations and practice – a complex picture emerges, showing how ethics, economic theory, and political theory intersect. This is an insightful work of philosophically informed contemporary political economy, analyzing the evolution and connection of key ethical concepts widely used by organizations.
Helen Mussell is a Lecturer in Organizational Studies at Cardiff University, and a Research Associate at the Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge, UK.
This book offers a unique exploration and analysis of social responsibility and associated ethical concepts used by business and financial organizations. Mussell lays out the argument that a realist analysis of social responsibility reveals caring relations underpinning this ethical behavior. The combination of a realist social ontology with contemporary relational care ethics provides the theoretical framework needed to successfully explore the ethics of social responsibility. She then applies this realist caring relations argument to three specific contexts in which social responsibility is explicitly evident - including corporate social responsibility, socially responsible investment, and the legal concept of the fiduciary. By tracing the historical development of each concept – including how economic methodology has influenced interpretations and practice – a complex picture emerges, showing how ethics, economic theory, and political theory intersect. This is an insightful work of philosophically informed contemporary political economy, analyzing the evolution and connection of key ethical concepts widely used by organizations.
Applies relational care ethics and social ontology to a selection of business and finance related ethical concepts Draws heavily on a unique philosophical methodological framework synthesizing ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics Uses realist critiques of neoclassical economic theory and mathematical modelling
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Helen Mussell
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Care Ethics Social Responsibility Business economics legal theory management epistemology ethical theory finance fiduciary duty investment management
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"This book provides a fresh take on recent debates concerning the social responsibilities of businesses and investors, informed by the perspective of relational or care-based ethics. While written in fairly simple language, it manages to show the many complexities involved – how organizational ethics intertwines with social ontology, economic methodology, political theory, and historical developments. Read this book to get a better grip on the debates!" (Joakim Sandberg, Professor of Practical Philosophy and Director of the Financial Ethics Research Group at University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
"A corporate world whose credo was who cares wins would be a very different place. In this concise and highly readable text, Mussell combines social ontology and relational ethics to novel effect, bringing a fresh perspective to familiar concepts. This is a work that anyone interested in ethics and political economy, or influenced by Cambridge Social Ontology ought to read." (Jamie Morgan, Professor of Economics at Leeds Beckett University, UK, and Co-Editor of the Real World Economics Review)
"Ontology, Relational Ethics, and Corporations is the first book-length treatment of corporate social responsibility (CSR) that takes a feminist ethic of care seriously, including integrating relational and social ontological analysis. Helen Mussell makes a vital contribution to business ethics and organizational philosophy in breaking down the barriers between fiduciary and moral responsibilities." (Maurice Hamington, M.B.A., Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy at Portland State University and author of "Revolutionary Care: Commitment and Ethos")
"A tour de force drawing knowledgeably on branches of philosophy and a range of social sciences to explore issues relating to whether corporate claims to be ethically oriented or socially responsible are in fact authentic, or whether the widespread scepticism is justified." (Tony Lawson, Professor Emeritus of Economics and Philosophy, University of Cambridge)
"In Ontology, Relational Ethics, and Corporations Helen Mussell contrasts the economistic view of a corporation as a narrowly profit-maximizing entity to a broader and more reasonable understanding, which has unfortunately been eclipsed. Mussell traces the roots of the two views to a basic divergence in ontologies, that is, beliefs about how the world works. A neglect of ethics arises from looking at the social world through a culturally masculinist-biased lens and thus imagining it as a closed, atomistic, and predictable system. Understanding the social world instead as open, relational, and emergent, she explains, leads to startlingly different and richer conceptions of corporate social responsibility, socially responsible investment, and fiduciary duty. Combining philosophicaland historical analysis with an insider’s knowledge of economics and finance, Ontology, Relational Ethics, and Corporations should be required reading for anyone concerned about the role of corporations in contemporary society." (Julie A. Nelson, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Massachusetts – Boston, author of "Feminism, Objectivity, and Economics and Economics for Humans")
"In this thorough yet practice-oriented contribution to business ethics, Helen Mussell pairs her industry experiences with rigorous social ontology to tell the tale of a journey through corporate social responsibility and socially responsible investing. The book culminates in a refreshing and compelling new perspective on fiduciary practice and stakeholder relations, which should be relevant to professionals and scholars alike." (Boudewijn de Bruin, Professor of Financial Ethics, University of Groningen and University of Gothenburg)
"In Ontology, Relational Ethics and Corporations Helen Mussell draws on recent advances in social ontology and care ethics to explore the key contemporary organizational ethical concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility, Socially Responsible Investing and the Fiduciary. The book, in a most compelling manner, demonstrates how adopting an explicit ontological orientation can enhance our understanding of central, often highly contentious, concepts deployed in modern business, economics and management studies. Throughout the book care is taken to trace the development of the concepts with the relevant intellectual history explored in depth and with great insight." (Stephen Pratten, Professor of Economics and Philosophy, King's College London)
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