Role Of Csr In Modern Society

CSR and its relevance in modern capitalist society
CSR has been one of the biggest corporate fads starting the 1990’s, it was less overpowering then but it has now gained power in the form of laws upholding it. Greed seems to have gone out of the picture or at least seems to have, corporate virtue in the form of CSR is in. But is this a good thing, possibly not because from the ethical lens the problem with conscientious CSR is obvious, it is generosity at other people’s expense. In the next few paragraphs I will try to explain more on why CSR is an unsustainable concept in the context of capitalism. However, in order to understand this, it is necessary to look at what economic and social theorists had to say about capitalism itself. It will

First, capitalism is propelled only and only by profitability. Second, capitalism is based on pursuit of self-interest and not social causes. Third, the primary objective for the existence of every organization is generating profit for stakeholders i.e. the owners of capital. Which in turn means that everyone in a capitalist system, be it organizations or individuals are driven by self-interest. Hence it shouldn’t come as a surprise that larger objectives like social and environmental issues have been treated less important to the pursuit of profit. It might be argued here that this conclusion is not new. True. But the point I am making is that economic theory, regardless of the ideology, supports the profit motive as the foundation for an enterprise operating in the capitalist system on the contrary there is no economic theory that supports the argument that pursuing social good or the modern day CSR, is a key aim of an organization in the capitalist

The implementation of CSR concept has an inherent weakness has prevented CSR from ever becoming a tool of social and environmental welfare. It is not implied here that CSR has not had or will never have impact on social welfare or the environment. My belief is that this impact, however positive, will be limited in its scale and magnitude and that the concept of CSR has been hyped beyond boundaries. Apart from the shortcomings of CSR to impact social and environmental welfare on a big scale, there are drawbacks intrinsic in it, which reduce its effectiveness as a tool of