Responsible Capitalism

Catalog description

What is responsible capitalism? Can a corporation (and individuals, including managers, entrepreneurs, and investors) be responsible under the incentives generated by the current capitalist system? Can socially responsible firms thrive, or are they bound to fade? This course takes a multidisciplinary approach to understand the interplay between ethics and capitalism. Since Milton Friedman's 1970 celebrated article "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits" the dominant story about capitalism has been centered around the "Shareholder Value Maximization" view. This view dichotomizes profit and purpose, conceptualizes business as a purely economic (and not social) institution, characterizes human beings as motivated by self-interest (and not values), and ultimately separates business and ethics. A new story of business has started to emerge that rejects all these false dichotomies and suggests we look at business as a human institution. Reading contributions from ethics, economics, entrepreneurship, law and psychoanalysis, students will present and develop their own understanding of Responsible Capitalism and will critically examine ongoing business practices.