Corporate Social Responsibility Redux

20 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2009

See all articles by Douglas M. Branson

Douglas M. Branson

University of Pittsburgh - School of Law (Emeritus)

Abstract

The sixties and early seventies were turbulent times. Opposition to the Vietnam War, the environmental and civil rights movements, and radicalism generally roiled the corporate world, as much as the world at large. These disparate strands coalesced into the "corporate social responsibility movement," culminating in strident advocacy of federal chartering of large corporations, mandatory public interest directors, and required social accounting and disclosure. Suddenly, though, the law and economics movement eclipsed (vanquished?, obliterated?) the corporate social responsibility movement. In this Essay, professor Branson recounts events and ideas of those bygone days. He then reviews evidence that a more muted, and international, responsibility movement is well underway in this, the new Millennium. A principal feature of that movement is that, unlike in the early1970s, the social responsibility issue is seen as converging with, rather than diverging from, broader trends in corporate governance, most specifically the "good governance" movement, which has been underfoot in many countries around the globe for well over a decade now.

Keywords: corporate governance, corporate social responsibility movement, corporate responsibility, social responsibility, corporate social accounting, good governance movement, disclosure

Suggested Citation

Branson, Douglas, Corporate Social Responsibility Redux. Tulane Law Review, Vol. 76, p. 1207, 2002, U. of Pittsburgh Legal Studies Research, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1352527

Douglas Branson (Contact Author)

University of Pittsburgh - School of Law (Emeritus) ( email )

3900 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
United States
412-624-3437 (Phone)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
382
Abstract Views
1,951
Rank
142,711
PlumX Metrics