Corporations and justice: a theory of corporate justice responsibility
<p>Political theorists have developed theories of responsibility for injustice, but rarely identify the corporation as a responsibility-bearer. Management scholars, on the other hand, widely acknowledge that corporations bear extra-commercial responsibilities but rarely include responsibility...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023
|
| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1826311836100722688 |
|---|---|
| author | Williams, A |
| author2 | Elford, G |
| author_facet | Elford, G Williams, A |
| author_sort | Williams, A |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>Political theorists have developed theories of responsibility for injustice, but rarely identify the corporation as a responsibility-bearer. Management scholars, on the other hand, widely acknowledge that corporations bear extra-commercial responsibilities but rarely include responsibility for justice, casting corporate social responsibility as discretionary duties of benevolence, mostly in service of corporate interests. These two literatures expose a gap in corporations’ responsibility for injustice.</p>
<p>This thesis addresses this responsibility gap by bringing these two literatures into conversation. It argues that the responsibility gap derives in part from the gap, found in both literatures, in the conception of corporate injustice, which in turn derives from a misconception of corporate behaviour.</p>
<p>The thesis argues that corporations are mistakenly conceived as atomistic actors when, in reality, they operate in networks consisting of complex webs of corporate interactions. Upon setting right this misconception, the thesis identifies an overlooked mode of injustice, that of <em>networked injustice</em> that corporations routinely commit by their participation in corporate networks. With this conception of networked injustice, the thesis develops a non-discretionary account of corporate responsibility for injustice, termed <em>corporate justice responsibility</em>.</p>
<p>The thesis contributes to political theory by bringing the corporation firmly into the set of responsibility-bearers for injustice while also identifying networks as mediators of injustice. While networked injustice is developed in the context of corporate behaviour, the concept is applicable to any agents engaged in networked action. The thesis contributes to management and political theory by presenting corporations as fundamentally networked actors, and developing an account of non-discretionary, extra-commercial responsibility borne by corporations, grounded in their contributions to networked injustice.</p>
<p>By these theoretical contributions, the thesis, and the theory of corporate justice responsibility, contribute to closing the gap in accounting for corporations’ justice responsibilities.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:17:09Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:67088d4d-064e-4a62-910f-87685d4308e1 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:17:09Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:67088d4d-064e-4a62-910f-87685d4308e12024-01-10T06:55:36ZCorporations and justice: a theory of corporate justice responsibilityThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:67088d4d-064e-4a62-910f-87685d4308e1Political science--PhilosophySocial responsibility of businessEthicsBusiness ethicsEnglishHyrax Deposit2023Williams, AElford, GStemplowska, Z<p>Political theorists have developed theories of responsibility for injustice, but rarely identify the corporation as a responsibility-bearer. Management scholars, on the other hand, widely acknowledge that corporations bear extra-commercial responsibilities but rarely include responsibility for justice, casting corporate social responsibility as discretionary duties of benevolence, mostly in service of corporate interests. These two literatures expose a gap in corporations’ responsibility for injustice.</p> <p>This thesis addresses this responsibility gap by bringing these two literatures into conversation. It argues that the responsibility gap derives in part from the gap, found in both literatures, in the conception of corporate injustice, which in turn derives from a misconception of corporate behaviour.</p> <p>The thesis argues that corporations are mistakenly conceived as atomistic actors when, in reality, they operate in networks consisting of complex webs of corporate interactions. Upon setting right this misconception, the thesis identifies an overlooked mode of injustice, that of <em>networked injustice</em> that corporations routinely commit by their participation in corporate networks. With this conception of networked injustice, the thesis develops a non-discretionary account of corporate responsibility for injustice, termed <em>corporate justice responsibility</em>.</p> <p>The thesis contributes to political theory by bringing the corporation firmly into the set of responsibility-bearers for injustice while also identifying networks as mediators of injustice. While networked injustice is developed in the context of corporate behaviour, the concept is applicable to any agents engaged in networked action. The thesis contributes to management and political theory by presenting corporations as fundamentally networked actors, and developing an account of non-discretionary, extra-commercial responsibility borne by corporations, grounded in their contributions to networked injustice.</p> <p>By these theoretical contributions, the thesis, and the theory of corporate justice responsibility, contribute to closing the gap in accounting for corporations’ justice responsibilities.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Political science--Philosophy Social responsibility of business Ethics Business ethics Williams, A Corporations and justice: a theory of corporate justice responsibility |
| title | Corporations and justice: a theory of corporate justice responsibility |
| title_full | Corporations and justice: a theory of corporate justice responsibility |
| title_fullStr | Corporations and justice: a theory of corporate justice responsibility |
| title_full_unstemmed | Corporations and justice: a theory of corporate justice responsibility |
| title_short | Corporations and justice: a theory of corporate justice responsibility |
| title_sort | corporations and justice a theory of corporate justice responsibility |
| topic | Political science--Philosophy Social responsibility of business Ethics Business ethics |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT williamsa corporationsandjusticeatheoryofcorporatejusticeresponsibility |