The morality of belief in the profits of virtue

Abstract

This article deals with a business ethic which requires multinationals to observe, in the countries in which they set up, the rules of justice, accountability, and human rights. This model rethinks the conception of corporate ethics, and the reasons for its propagation have to do with the transformation of international relations after the Cold War. Underpinning its development are the language games which the moral entrepreneurs decide to use, and finance is the social space in which the various elements of this communication link up. The present inquiry is both explanatory and normative in its aim. The text discusses the morality of “honesty pays”, placing it in the context of the culturally and historically situated forms of utilitarianism that it espouses. The inquiry concludes by stressing the deeply religious character of its appeal, the effectiveness and validity of which rest on self‐fulfilling prophecies.

Human Nature and Morality in the Anti‐corruption Discourse of Transparency International

“…Sampson (: 3, 2), for example, seems to conceive the whole anti‐corruption campaign as a moral enterprise; he sees anti‐corruption activities as a ‘moral force’ and as ‘part of a general trend toward global ethics and moral justification in human affairs’. Colonomos, who investigates the ‘rise of a market of virtue’ (: 457), argues that concepts like transparency which are used in such discourses operate ‘on two levels’ and are ‘bound up with a vision that is at once economic and moral’ (: 460). Roden, in turn, thinks that corruption has ‘evolved from an economic issues to a moral one’ (: 15).…”

Business and the Polis: What Does it Mean to See Corporations as Political Actors?

“…See Wayne Norman (2004) for a longer discussion of CSR and the left. 26 For some interesting remarks on what I call the ''politics of accountability,'' see Colomonos (2005) and also Kuper (2004). 27 It should be noted that the analysis of corporate involvement in the political process and democratic advocacy could raise some issues about the kind of agents that corporations are.…”

“…As Wayne Norman states it, instead of using the language of socialism, class warfare, or struggles against private property, those critics of modern capitalism are most likely to formulate their criticisms and recommendations in the language of ''corporate social responsibility,'' ''sustainable development,'' and ''stakeholder capitalism'' (Norman, 2004). 25 From this perspective then, what appears to be significant with this third way of looking politically at business practices and institutions is that it sheds some fresh light on the idea of social responsibility of business and the various ways it is embedded in political spheres and movements (Colomonos, 2005). The ''market for virtues,'' in which virtuous companies are recompensed and bad ones punished or ashamed, is a complex arena involving a plurality of actors that interact within complex networks of exchanges, collaboration, deliberation, and confrontation (Vogel, 2005;Colonomos, 2005).…”

Introduciendo la moral en los estudios sociales del self: Narrativas biográficas como trabajo moral del yo

“…Esta visión de la cultura como "caja de herramientas" (Swidler 1986) o "repertorio" terminó sin embargo por segregar el componente normativo de la sociología cultural. Recientemente, sin embargo, las contribuciones de Young (2004), Harding (2007), Lamont (2000), Lamont y Small (2008), Colonomos (2005), May (2008) entre otros, han explorado esta dimensión de la moral, examinando por ejemplo, su papel en la producción de fronteras entre grupos sociales, en la llamada "moralización del capitalismo" o en la negociación de la identidad personal con respecto a normas públicas sobre la maternidad. Una cuarta dimensión de análisis podría abarcar entonces los efectos de las preocupaciones morales de los individuos no ya sobre sí mismo y su sentido de si como individuos, sino sobre otras áreas de la vida social: la forma de hacer familia o comunidad, de construir relaciones de género, de trabajo o de intercambio, entre otras.…”