Social Responsibility
Social responsibility is an ethical or ideological theory that an entity whether it is a government, corporation, organization or individual has a responsibility to society. This responsibility can be "negative", meaning there is a responsibility to refrain from acting (resistance stance) or it can be "positive," meaning there is a responsibility to act (proactive stance).
There is a large inequality in the means and roles of different entities to fulfill their claimed responsibility. This would imply the different entities have different responsibilities, in so much as states should ensure the civil rights of their citizens, that corporations should respect and encourage the human rights of their employees and that citizens should abide with written laws. But social responsibility can mean more than these examples. Many Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) accept that their role and the responsibility of their members as citizens is to help improve society by taking a proactive stance in their societal roles. It can also imply that corporations have an implicit obligation to give back to society (such as is claimed as part of corporate social responsibility and/or stakeholder theory).
A third way that business can use ethical decision making to secure their businesses is by making decisions that allow for government agencies to minimize their involvement with the corporation. (Kaliski, 2001) For instance if a company is proactive and follows the United States Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for admissions on dangerous pollutants and even goes an extra step to get involved in the community and address those concerns that the public might have; they would be less likely to have the EPA investigate them for environmental concerns. “A significant element of current thinking about privacy, however, stresses "self-regulation" rather than market or government mechanisms for protecting personal information” (Swire , 1997) Most rules and regulations are formed due to public outcry, if there is not outcry there often will be limited regulation.
Socially responsible businesses
For each business, different measures are taken in consideration to classify a business as "socially responsible". Each business attempts to reach different goals. There are four areas that should be measured regardless of the outcome needed: Economic function, Quality of life, Social investment and Problem solving.{{fact|date=February 2009that is trying to be achieved should be measured to see if it meets with the cost guidelines that the business is willing to contribute. (Kaliski,
Emerging Normative Status of Social Responsibility
Social responsibility as a non-binding, or soft law principle has received some normative status in relation to private and public corporations in the UNESCO Universal Declation on Bioethics and Human Rights developed by the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee particularly in relation to child and maternal welfare.(Faunce and Nasu 2009)
References
Carbon Footprint, (2006). Carbon Footprint's Business Services. Retrieved October 19, 2007, from Carbon Footprint Web site: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/companies_calc.html
Faunce TA and Nasu H. Normative Foundations of Technology Transfer and Transnational Benefit Principles in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human RightsJournal of Medicine and Philosophy , 0 : 1 – 26, 2009 doi:10.1093/jmp/jhp021. http://law.anu.edu.au/StaffUploads/236-Art%20JMedPhilosUS09.pdf
Hogue, J (2001, April 19). Johnson and Johnson Tylenol Scare. Retrieved September 10, 2007, from Communications on the Internet Web site: http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/spring01/Hogue/tylenol.html
Kaliski, B. (Ed.). Social Responsibility and Organizational Ethics. (2001). Encyclopedia of Business and Finance (2nd ed., Vol. 1). New York: Macmillan Reference.
Kaliski, B. (Ed.). Ethics in Management. (2001). Encyclopedia of Business and Finance (2nd ed., Vol. 1). New York: Macmillan Reference.
Pride, William M., Hughes, Robert James, & Kapoor, Jack R. (2008). Business (9th ed.) Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0618770917
External links
Some groups of professionals have defined their own intrinsic social responsibilities. Here are some examples:
See also
Further reading
- Crane, Andrew, Abagail McWilliams, Dirk Matten, Jeremy Moon, and Donald S. Siegel (Editors) (2008). The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford, England; New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199211593.
- May, Steve, George Cheney, and Juliet Roper (2007). The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford, England; New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195178821. OCLC 70292018.
- McBarnet, Doreen J., Aurora Voiculescu, and Tom Campbell (2007). The New Corporate Accountability: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521868181. OCLC 181421309.
- Rossi, Alice S. (2001). Caring and Doing for Others: Social Responsibility in the Domains of Family, Work, and Community. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226728722. OCLC 45064591.
- Zerk, Jennifer A. (2006). Multinationals and Corporate Social Responsibility: Limitations and Opportunities in International Law. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521844991. OCLC 76849750.
|
Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Context, limitations and duties |
|
Article 28: Social order · Article 29.1: Social responsibility · Article 29.2: Limitations of human rights · Article 29.3: The supremacy of the purposes and principles of the United Nations
Article 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
|
|
|
| Category:Human rights · Human rights portal |
|
