Misplaced Pages

#473526

123-721: East London Business Alliance ( ELBA ) is a British business-community outreach charity promoting corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee volunteering . A 'partnership of substantial businesses engaged in the social and economic regeneration of East London', it operates in the Boroughs of Tower Hamlets , Hackney , Newham , Waltham Forest , and, under the name the BIG Alliance, in Islington . ELBA works with over 100 London companies committed to improving their impact on society. Education, local employment, and using business skills in

246-515: A business model to be successful. With some models, a firm's implementation of CSR goes beyond compliance with regulatory requirements and engages in "actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law". Furthermore, businesses may engage in CSR for strategic or ethical purposes. From a strategic perspective, CSR can contribute to firm profits, particularly if brands voluntarily self-report both

369-418: A profit motive when participating in corporate philanthropy and community volunteering. On the other hand, the remaining corporate social initiatives can be examples of cause marketing, in which there is both a societal interest and a profit motive. CSR may be based within the human resources , business development or public relations departments of an organisation, or may be a separate unit reporting to

492-416: A business enterprise that emerge from neighborhoods, environmental groups, local stakeholders, and other elements of the surrounding civil society". Social License to Operate can be determined as contractual grounds for the legitimacy of activities and projects a company is involved in. It refers to the level of support and approval of a company's activities by its stakeholders. Displaying commitment to CSR

615-575: A business-supported employee volunteer programme in Islington , called the Businesses for Islington Giving (BIG) Alliance. In 2013, ELBA's recruitment agency London Works, launched as a social enterprise to 'help talented people from low income backgrounds into their first role in London's financial and business services sector', received a £100,000 grant from the Mayor of London's London Enterprise Panel. There are

738-427: A company's economic actions to particular interest groups within society and to society at large. Social accounting emphasizes the notion of corporate accountability . Crowther defines social accounting as "an approach to reporting a firm's activities which stresses the need for the identification of socially relevant behavior, the determination of those to whom the company is accountable for its social performance and

861-455: A correlation between social/environmental performance and financial performance. The business case for CSR within a company employs one or more of these arguments: Sociology 1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville  ·  Marx ·  Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto ·  Tönnies · Veblen ·  Simmel · Durkheim ·  Addams ·  Mead · Weber ·  Du Bois ·  Mannheim · Elias Sociology

984-422: A differentiation strategy. They concluded that managers could determine the appropriate level of investment in CSR by conducting a cost-benefit analysis in the same way they analyze other investments. Reinhardt (1998) found that a firm engaging in a CSR-based strategy could only sustain an abnormal return if it could prevent competitors from imitating it. The relationship between corporate social responsibility and

1107-630: A distinctive way of thinking, the rational calculation which he associated with the Protestant Ethic (more or less what Marx and Engels speak of in terms of those 'icy waves of egotistical calculation'). Together the works of these great classical sociologists suggest what Giddens has recently described as 'a multidimensional view of institutions of modernity' and which emphasises not only capitalism and industrialism as key institutions of modernity, but also 'surveillance' (meaning 'control of information and social supervision') and 'military power' (control of

1230-428: A firm's corporate financial performance is a phenomenon that is being explored in a variety of research studies that are being conducted across the world. Based on these research studies, including those undertaken by Sang Jun Cho, Chune Young Chung, and Jason Young, a positive relationship exists between a firm's corporate social responsibility policies and corporate financial performance. To investigate this relationship,

1353-774: A foundation for consumers to verify that their products are socially sustainable . Due to an increased awareness of the need for CSR, many industries have their verification resources. They include organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council (paper and forest products), International Cocoa Initiative, and Kimberly Process (diamonds). The United Nations Global Compact provides frameworks not only for verification, but also for reporting human rights violations in corporate supply chains. The rise of ethics training inside corporations, some of which are required by government regulation, has helped CSR to spread. Such training aims to help employees make ethical decisions when

SECTION 10

#1733084650474

1476-500: A founder of sociology as the word gained wider meaning. For Isaiah Berlin , even though Marx did not consider himself to be a sociologist, he may be regarded as the "true father" of modern sociology, "in so far as anyone can claim the title." To have given clear and unified answers in familiar empirical terms to those theoretical questions which most occupied men's minds at the time, and to have deduced from them clear practical directives without creating obviously artificial links between

1599-613: A healthy, educated workforce, sustainable resources, and an adept government to compete effectively. For society to thrive, profitable and competitive businesses must be developed and supported to create income, wealth, tax revenues, and philanthropy. The Harvard Business Review article "Strategy & Society: The Link between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility" provided examples of companies that have developed deep linkages between their business strategies and CSR. CSV acknowledges trade-offs between short-term profitability and social or environmental goals, but emphasizes

1722-410: A major contribution to the theoretical concept of structural functionalism . By carefully examining suicide statistics in different police districts, he attempted to demonstrate that Catholic communities have a lower suicide rate than that of Protestants, something he attributed to social (as opposed to individual or psychological ) causes. He developed the notion of objective social facts to delineate

1845-440: A neo-Kantian inquiry into the limits of perception, asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's question 'What is nature?' The deepest problems of modern life flow from the attempt of the individual to maintain the independence and individuality of his existence against the sovereign powers of society, against the weight of the historical heritage and the external culture and technique of life. The antagonism represents

1968-461: A notable biologist , Spencer coined the term survival of the fittest . While Marxian ideas defined one strand of sociology, Spencer was a critic of socialism, as well as a strong advocate for a laissez-faire style of government. His ideas were closely observed by conservative political circles, especially in the United States and England. The first formal Department of Sociology in the world

2091-547: A number of alternatives to ELBA which offer corporate volunteering and these include: This article about a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Corporate social responsibility Considered at the organisational level, CSR is generally understood as a strategic initiative that contributes to a brand's reputation. As such, social responsibility initiatives must coherently align with and be integrated into

2214-595: A positive response. Somerville also found that consumers are loyal and willing to spend more on retailers that support charity. Consumers also believe that retailers selling local products will gain loyalty. Smith (2013) shares the belief that marketing local products will gain consumer trust. However, environmental efforts are receiving negative views, given the belief that this would affect customer service. Oppewal et al. (2006) found that not all CSR activities are attractive to consumers. They recommended that retailers focus on one activity. Becker-Olsen (2006) found that if

2337-443: A possible character beyond positivist data-collection or grand, deterministic systems of structural law. Relatively isolated from the sociological academy throughout his lifetime, Simmel presented idiosyncratic analyses of modernity more reminiscent of the phenomenological and existential writers than of Comte or Durkheim, paying particular concern to the forms of, and possibilities for, social individuality. His sociology engaged in

2460-493: A pyramid of responsibilities, namely, economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities. While Carroll was not defining CSR, but simply arguing for the classification of activities, Sheehy developed a definition differently following the philosophy of science—the branch of philosophy used for explaining phenomena. Carroll extended corporate social responsibility from the traditional economic and legal responsibility to ethical and philanthropic responsibility in response to

2583-430: A range of businesses, academics and stakeholders and been referred to by a number of other terms, including "corporate sustainability", "sustainable business", "corporate conscience", "corporate citizenship", "purpose", "social impact", "conscious capitalism ", and "responsible business". A wide variety of definitions have been developed, but with little consensus. Part of the definition problem has arisen because of

SECTION 20

#1733084650474

2706-495: A range of reporting guidelines and standards that serve as frameworks for social accounting, auditing, and reporting: Legal requirements for social accounting, auditing, and reporting exist in nations like France. However, international or national agreement on meaningful social and environmental performance measurements has not been achieved. Many companies produce externally audited annual reports that cover Sustainable Development and CSR issues ("Triple Bottom Line Reports"), but

2829-651: A resolutely subjective perspective. Max Weber argued that sociology may be loosely described as a science as it is able to identify causal relationships of human " social action "—especially among " ideal types ", or hypothetical simplifications of complex social phenomena. As a non-positivist, however, Weber sought relationships that are not as "historical, invariant, or generalisable" as those pursued by natural scientists. Fellow German sociologist, Ferdinand Tönnies , theorised on two crucial abstract concepts with his work on " gemeinschaft and gesellschaft " ( lit.   ' community' and 'society ' ). Tönnies marked

2952-403: A revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes. Symbolic interaction —often associated with interactionism , phenomenology , dramaturgy , interpretivism —is a sociological approach that places emphasis on subjective meanings and the empirical unfolding of social processes, generally accessed through micro-analysis. This tradition emerged in

3075-526: A risk of agency costs, a law academic may consider that discretion to be an appropriate expression of what the law demands from directors. In the 1930s, two law professors, A. A. Berle and Merrick Dodd, famously debated how directors should be made to uphold the public interest: Berle believed there had to be legally enforceable rules in favor of labor, customers and the public equal to or ahead of shareholders, while Dodd argued that powers of directors were simply held on trust. Corporate social responsibility

3198-409: A sharp line between the realm of concepts and the reality of social action: the first must be treated axiomatically and in a deductive way ("pure sociology"), whereas the second empirically and inductively ("applied sociology"). [Sociology is] ... the science whose object is to interpret the meaning of social action and thereby give a causal explanation of the way in which the action proceeds and

3321-558: A social whole. The German philosopher Hegel criticised traditional empiricist epistemology, which he rejected as uncritical, and determinism, which he viewed as overly mechanistic. Karl Marx 's methodology borrowed from Hegelian dialecticism but also a rejection of positivism in favour of critical analysis, seeking to supplement the empirical acquisition of "facts" with the elimination of illusions. He maintained that appearances need to be critiqued rather than simply documented. Early hermeneuticians such as Wilhelm Dilthey pioneered

3444-571: A socially responsible company makes safe, high-quality products; for Germans it provides secure employment; in South Africa it makes a positive contribution to social needs such as health care and education. Even within Europe, the discussion about CSR is very heterogeneous. A more common approach to CSR is corporate philanthropy . This includes monetary donations and aid given to nonprofit organizations and communities. Donations are made in areas such as

3567-528: A theoretical empiricism . The extent of antipositivist criticism has also diverged, with many rejecting the scientific method and others only seeking to amend it to reflect 20th-century developments in the philosophy of science. However, positivism (broadly understood as a scientific approach to the study of society) remains dominant in contemporary sociology, especially in the United States. Loïc Wacquant distinguishes three major strains of positivism: Durkheimian , Logical, and Instrumental. None of these are

3690-426: A unique empirical object for the science of sociology to study. Through such studies he posited that sociology would be able to determine whether any given society is healthy or pathological, and seek social reform to negate organic breakdown, or " social anomie ". Sociology quickly evolved as an academic response to the perceived challenges of modernity , such as industrialization, urbanization, secularization , and

3813-805: A variety of different fields. Since its inception, sociological epistemology, methods, and frames of inquiry, have significantly expanded and diverged. Durkheim, Marx, and the German theorist Max Weber are typically cited as the three principal architects of sociology. Herbert Spencer , William Graham Sumner , Lester F. Ward , W. E. B. Du Bois , Vilfredo Pareto , Alexis de Tocqueville , Werner Sombart , Thorstein Veblen , Ferdinand Tönnies , Georg Simmel , Jane Addams and Karl Mannheim are often included on academic curricula as founding theorists. Curricula also may include Charlotte Perkins Gilman , Marianne Weber , Harriet Martineau , and Friedrich Engels as founders of

East London Business Alliance - Misplaced Pages Continue

3936-512: A variety of outside markets, an improved reputation, and stakeholder relationships. In all cases (emerging markets vs. developed economies), implementing CSR policies into the daily activities and framework of a company has been shown to allow for a competitive advantage versus other companies, including the creation of a positive image for the company, improved stakeholder relationships, increased employee morale, and attraction of new consumers who are committed to social responsibility. Despite all of

4059-517: Is achieved within and given by communities, which is defined as "a social unit of any size that shares common values, or that is situated in a given geographical area". Lacey suggested that social license can take a long time for a corporation or industry to achieve, but social license can be lost very quickly for a variety of factors, including changes in stakeholder expectations, technology, or other disturbances. Gunningham et al. stated that meeting and exceeding regulations to build reputational capital

4182-523: Is also in this tradition that the radical-empirical approach of ethnomethodology emerges from the work of Harold Garfinkel . Utilitarianism is often referred to as exchange theory or rational choice theory in the context of sociology. This tradition tends to privilege the agency of individual rational actors and assumes that within interactions individuals always seek to maximize their own self-interest. As argued by Josh Whitford , rational actors are assumed to have four basic elements: Exchange theory

4305-815: Is an established tradition within sociological theory. Lastly, as argued by Raewyn Connell , a tradition that is often forgotten is that of Social Darwinism , which applies the logic of Darwinian biological evolution to people and societies. This tradition often aligns with classical functionalism, and was once the dominant theoretical stance in American sociology, from c.  1881  – c.  1915 , associated with several founders of sociology, primarily Herbert Spencer , Lester F. Ward , and William Graham Sumner . Contemporary sociological theory retains traces of each of these traditions and they are by no means mutually exclusive. A broad historical paradigm in both sociology and anthropology , functionalism addresses

4428-431: Is but a consequence of this rationalism. The term has long since ceased to carry this meaning; there are no fewer than twelve distinct epistemologies that are referred to as positivism. Many of these approaches do not self-identify as "positivist", some because they themselves arose in opposition to older forms of positivism, and some because the label has over time become a pejorative term by being mistakenly linked with

4551-420: Is connected with the division of labor) and his achievements which make him unique and indispensable but which at the same time make him so much the more dependent on the complementary activity of others; Nietzsche may have seen the relentless struggle of the individual as the prerequisite for his full development, while socialism found the same thing in the suppression of all competition – but in each of these

4674-427: Is economically vital, saying: "in certain circumstances, [natural resource-based industries] cannot afford to do otherwise". In communities with a diverse economy, achieving social license is often much more complex than in local communities, which depend economically on the natural resource industry. In research undertaken by Ketola et al. , the writers believed that the forest products industry in rural Michigan in

4797-418: Is merely window-dressing , or an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations . In line with this critical perspective, political and sociological institutionalists became interested in CSR in the context of theories of globalization , neoliberalism , and late capitalism . Since the 1960s, corporate social responsibility has attracted attention from

4920-622: Is more or less synonymous with quantitative research , and so only resembles older positivism in practice. Since it carries no explicit philosophical commitment, its practitioners may not belong to any particular school of thought. Modern sociology of this type is often credited to Paul Lazarsfeld , who pioneered large-scale survey studies and developed statistical techniques for analysing them. This approach lends itself to what Robert K. Merton called middle-range theory : abstract statements that generalize from segregated hypotheses and empirical regularities rather than starting with an abstract idea of

5043-407: Is not directly undertaken by the companies, they become accountable to the stakeholders. These surrounding issues have prompted supply chain management to consider the corporate social responsibility context. Wieland and Handfield (2013) suggested that companies must include social responsibility in their reviews of component quality. They highlighted the use of technology to improve visibility across

East London Business Alliance - Misplaced Pages Continue

5166-557: Is one way to achieve a social license, by enhancing a company's reputation. As stated in Enduring value: the Australian minerals industry framework for sustainable development the concept of the 'social license to operate', then defined simply as obtaining and maintaining broad community support and acceptance. Unless a company earns and maintains that license, social license holders may intend to block project developments; employees may leave

5289-423: Is specifically attributed to the work of George C. Homans , Peter Blau and Richard Emerson. Organizational sociologists James G. March and Herbert A. Simon noted that an individual's rationality is bounded by the context or organizational setting. The utilitarian perspective in sociology was, most notably, revitalized in the late 20th century by the work of former ASA president James Coleman . Following

5412-484: Is the process by which several organizations, including suppliers, customers, and logistics providers, work together to provide a value package of products and services to the end-user, who is the customer. Corporate social irresponsibility in the supply chain has greatly affected the reputation of companies, leading to many costs to solve the problems. For instance, incidents like the 2013 Savar building collapse , which killed over 1000 people, pushed companies to consider

5535-741: Is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society , human social behavior , patterns of social relationships , social interaction , and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. Regarded as a part of both the social sciences and humanities , sociology uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order and social change . Sociological subject matter ranges from micro-level analyses of individual interaction and agency to macro-level analyses of social systems and social structure . Applied sociological research may be applied directly to social policy and welfare, whereas theoretical approaches may focus on

5658-418: Is to extract from their subject-matter 'correct' or 'valid' meaning. Both Weber and Georg Simmel pioneered the " Verstehen " (or 'interpretative') method in social science; a systematic process by which an outside observer attempts to relate to a particular cultural group, or indigenous people, on their own terms and from their own point of view. Through the work of Simmel, in particular, sociology acquired

5781-459: The CEO or the board of directors . An engagement plan can assist in reaching the desired audience. A corporate social responsibility individual or team plans the goals and objectives of the organization. As with any corporate activity, a defined budget demonstrates commitment and scales the program's relative importance. Social accounting is the communication of social and environmental effects of

5904-555: The Chicago School of the 1920s and 1930s, which, prior to World War II, "had been the center of sociological research and graduate study." The approach focuses on creating a framework for building a theory that sees society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals. Society is nothing more than the shared reality that people construct as they interact with one another. This approach sees people interacting in countless settings using symbolic communications to accomplish

6027-459: The Domesday Book in 1086, while ancient philosophers such as Confucius wrote about the importance of social roles. Medieval Arabic writings encompass a rich tradition that unveils early insights into the field of sociology. Some sources consider Ibn Khaldun , a 14th-century Muslim scholar from Tunisia , to have been the father of sociology, although there is no reference to his work in

6150-525: The Frankfurt School of critical theory ) was founded in 1923. International co-operation in sociology began in 1893, when René Worms founded the Institut International de Sociologie , an institution later eclipsed by the much larger International Sociological Association (ISA), founded in 1949. The overarching methodological principle of positivism is to conduct sociology in broadly

6273-463: The United States may have received a social license through the channels that mining corporations initially established and the long history of logging and copper mining in the area continued to shape the attitudes and identities of industry participants to present day. They found that local stakeholders and local industry operators have shared history and experience as having limited power to control

SECTION 50

#1733084650474

6396-407: The effects which it produces . By 'action' in this definition is meant the human behaviour when and to the extent that the agent or agents see it as subjectively meaningful ... the meaning to which we refer may be either (a) the meaning actually intended either by an individual agent on a particular historical occasion or by a number of agents on an approximate average in a given set of cases, or (b)

6519-474: The institution of medicine ; economy ; military ; punishment and systems of control ; the Internet ; sociology of education ; social capital ; and the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge . The range of social scientific methods has also expanded, as social researchers draw upon a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The linguistic and cultural turns of

6642-444: The social structure —referred to as " social organization " by the classical theorists—with respect to the whole as well as the necessary function of the whole's constituent elements. A common analogy (popularized by Herbert Spencer ) is to regard norms and institutions as 'organs' that work towards the proper functioning of the entire 'body' of society. The perspective was implicit in the original sociological positivism of Comte but

6765-477: The supply chain . Corporate social responsibility includes six types of corporate social initiatives: All six of the corporate initiatives are forms of corporate citizenship. However, only some of these CSR activities rise to the level of cause marketing , defined as "a type of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in which a company's promotional campaign has the dual purpose of increasing profitability while bettering society." Companies generally do not have

6888-622: The ASA in 1905. The sociological canon of classics with Durkheim and Max Weber at the top owes its existence in part to Talcott Parsons , who is largely credited with introducing both to American audiences. Parsons consolidated the sociological tradition and set the agenda for American sociology at the point of its fastest disciplinary growth. Sociology in the United States was less historically influenced by Marxism than its European counterpart, and to this day broadly remains more statistical in its approach. The first sociology department established in

7011-466: The Harvard department." As Parsons began to dominate general theory, his work primarily referenced European sociology—almost entirely omitting citations of both the American tradition of sociocultural-evolution as well as pragmatism. In addition to Parsons' revision of the sociological canon (which included Marshall, Pareto, Weber and Durkheim), the lack of theoretical challenges from other departments nurtured

7134-571: The Hungarian Association for Environmentally Aware Management (KÖVET) refers to "Deep CSR" and the role of a "Truly Responsible Enterprise". Gergely's definition of "Deep CSR" is the behaviour displayed by a "Truly Responsible Enterprise" (TRE), which: The five principles of the TRE are: In competitive markets, the cost-benefit analysis of CSR initiatives can be examined using a resource-based view (RBV). According to Barney (1990), "formulation of

7257-803: The RBV, sustainable competitive advantage requires that resources be valuable (V), rare (R), inimitable (I) and non-substitutable (S)". A firm introducing a CSR-based strategy might only sustain high returns on their investment if their CSR-based strategy could not be copied (I). However, should competitors imitate such a strategy that might increase overall social benefits? Firms that choose CSR for strategic financial gain are also acting responsibly. RBV presumes that firms are bundles of heterogeneous resources and capabilities that are imperfectly mobile across firms. This imperfect mobility can produce competitive advantages for firms that acquire immobile resources. McWilliams and Siegel (2001) examined CSR activities and attributes as

7380-536: The Sociological Method (1895). For Durkheim, sociology could be described as the "science of institutions, their genesis and their functioning." Durkheim's monograph Suicide (1897) is considered a seminal work in statistical analysis by contemporary sociologists. Suicide is a case study of variations in suicide rates among Catholic and Protestant populations, and served to distinguish sociological analysis from psychology or philosophy. It also marked

7503-654: The United Kingdom was at the London School of Economics and Political Science (home of the British Journal of Sociology ) in 1904. Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse and Edvard Westermarck became the lecturers in the discipline at the University of London in 1907. Harriet Martineau , an English translator of Comte, has been cited as the first female sociologist. In 1909, the German Sociological Association

SECTION 60

#1733084650474

7626-862: The answers are unclear. The most direct benefit is reducing the likelihood of "dirty hands", fines, and damaged reputations for breaching laws or moral norms. Organizations see increased employee loyalty and pride in the organization. Common CSR actions include: The term "social license" was introduced in 1997 and has since been applied in multiple resource extraction industries to describe changes in company-community interactions. This use of social license has included an understanding of how acceptance levels impact resource development operations within these industries. Gunningham et al. state corporations comply with their social license by operating within societal expectations and avoiding activities (or influential elements within them) considered unacceptable, and define social license it as "the demands on and expectations for

7749-436: The arts, education, housing, health, social welfare, and the environment, among others, but excluding political contributions and commercial event sponsorship. Another approach to CSR is to incorporate the CSR strategy directly into operations, such as procurement of Fair Trade tea and coffee. Creating shared value , or CSV, is based on the idea that corporate success and social welfare are interdependent. A business needs

7872-418: The basic form of society would increase in complexity and those forms of social organization that promoted solidarity would eventually overcome social disorganization. As Giddens states: Functionalist thought, from Comte onwards, has looked particularly towards biology as the science providing the closest and most compatible model for social science. Biology has been taken to provide a guide to conceptualizing

7995-533: The benefits, it is important to note that several drawbacks exist, including possible accusations of hypocrisy, the difficulty of measuring the social impact of CSR policies, and oftentimes placing companies at a disadvantage against competitors when prioritizing CSR ahead of advancing a company's R&D. A large body of literature urges businesses to adopt non-financial measures of success (e.g., Deming 's Fourteen Points, balanced scorecards ). While CSR benefits are hard to quantify, Orlitzky, Schmidt and Rynes found

8118-581: The community are ELBA's three main focus areas. In the 1990s, ELBA was known as the East London Partnership. A smaller group of around 37 companies, its work was focused on business leaders' involvement in local partnerships in Newham, Tower Hamlets and Hackney. From 1995, in partnership with The Environment Trust and London Borough of Tower Hamlets , ELBA was involved in the creation of Mile End Park . In 2012, Islington Giving invited ELBA to create

8241-701: The companies is to obtain and maintain the Social License to Operate. Based on the Requisite Organization , to achieve this goal, a company needs to: A positive relationship has been shown to exist between CSR and a firm's corporate financial performance. However, results from these analyses may need to be examined under different lenses for emerging and developed economies, especially since firms based in emerging economies oftentimes have weak firm-level governance. For companies operating in emerging markets, engaging in CSR practices enables widespread reach into

8364-407: The company as the social contract the company has with the social license holders (employees, trade unions, communities, government) for them to manifest positive intention to support the business short- and long-term objectives by "providing managerial leadership that nurtures the social good and also gives the foundation for sustainable growth in organizational results." The primary objective for

8487-459: The company for a company that is a better corporate citizen: and companies may be under ongoing legal challenge. Issues related to the government's measurement of corporations' social license include its role in licensure processes, the penalties for non-compliance, or the community's ability to halt a project if a corporation is not responsive to their concerns, are still subject to global concern. Regardless of government involvement, social license

8610-416: The decline of theories of sociocultural evolution in the United States, the interactionist thought of the Chicago School dominated American sociology. As Anselm Strauss describes, "we didn't think symbolic interaction was a perspective in sociology; we thought it was sociology." Moreover, philosophical and psychological pragmatism grounded this tradition. After World War II, mainstream sociology shifted to

8733-411: The detail of Comte's philosophy, he retained and refined its method, maintaining that the social sciences are a logical continuation of the natural ones into the realm of human activity, and insisting that they may retain the same objectivity, rationalism, and approach to causality. Durkheim set up the first European department of sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895, publishing his Rules of

8856-428: The development of appropriate measures and reporting techniques." Modern CSR has a wide range of different standards, frameworks and metrics for reporting and disclosing the social, environmental and economic issues. However, there is no single, fixed standard and the complex, dynamic and contextual nature of CSR means different companies and stakeholders adopt different approaches depending on their needs. There are

8979-404: The different interests represented. A business person may define CSR as a business strategy, an NGO activist may see it as ' greenwash ' while a government official may see it as voluntary regulation. "In addition, disagreement about the definition will arise from the disciplinary approach." For example, while an economist might consider the director's discretion necessary for CSR to be implemented

9102-498: The distinction between natural and social science (' Geisteswissenschaft '). Various neo-Kantian philosophers, phenomenologists and human scientists further theorized how the analysis of the social world differs to that of the natural world due to the irreducibly complex aspects of human society, culture, and being . In the Italian context of development of social sciences and of sociology in particular, there are oppositions to

9225-455: The employed resources." Businesses have changed when the public came to expect and require different behavior [...] I predict that in the future, just as in the past, changes in public attitudes will be essential for changes in businesses' environmental practices. Most consumers agree that while achieving business targets, companies should engage in CSR efforts at the same time. Most consumers believe companies doing charity work will receive

9348-563: The environment, and how others perceive competitor CSR strategy. Meehan, Meehan and Richard developed a model known as the 3C-SR model, published in a frequently cited article in 2006, which aimed to offer "a new strategic approach to corporate responsibility". Their model sought to fill the gap between corporate social responsibility definitions and strategy, which the authors perceived to be an issue, and to provide guidance to managers on connecting businesses with ethically-aware consumers. An approach described by Tóth Gergely and published by

9471-449: The ethical beliefs of senior management: for example, the CEO of outdoor-apparel company Patagonia, Inc. argues that harming the environment is ethically objectionable. Proponents argue that corporations increase long-term profits by operating with a CSR perspective, while critics argue that CSR distracts from businesses' economic role. A 2000 study compared existing econometric studies of

9594-408: The feminist tradition in sociology. Each key figure is associated with a particular theoretical perspective and orientation. Marx and Engels associated the emergence of modern society above all with the development of capitalism; for Durkheim it was connected in particular with industrialization and the new social division of labor which this brought about; for Weber it had to do with the emergence of

9717-492: The first foundation of the discipline, sustained by speculative philosophy in accordance with the antiscientific tendencies matured by critique of positivism and evolutionism, so a tradition Progressist struggles to establish itself. At the turn of the 20th century, the first generation of German sociologists formally introduced methodological anti-positivism , proposing that research should concentrate on human cultural norms , values , symbols , and social processes viewed from

9840-410: The first sociology textbook: An introduction to the study of society . George Herbert Mead and Charles Cooley , who had met at the University of Michigan in 1891 (along with John Dewey ), moved to Chicago in 1894. Their influence gave rise to social psychology and the symbolic interactionism of the modern Chicago School . The American Journal of Sociology was founded in 1895, followed by

9963-403: The foundation of the discipline itself. Social analysis has origins in the common stock of universal, global knowledge and philosophy, having been carried out from as far back as the time of old comic poetry which features social and political criticism, and ancient Greek philosophers Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle . For instance, the origin of the survey can be traced back to at least

10086-415: The identifiable behaviour of individual businesses risks not including what he calls " unincorporated market behaviour" within the scope of CSR - actions attributable to market processes, and also calls for other factors including "brand citizenship" and "illegitimate, informal or illegal activity" to be considered as part of a more complete picture. The term "brand citizenship" has been put forward because

10209-431: The impacts of their operations on society and the environment. On the other hand, the horsemeat scandal of 2013 in Europe affected many food retailers, including Tesco, the largest retailer in the United Kingdom, leading to the dismissal of the supplier. Corporate social irresponsibility from suppliers and retailers has greatly affected the stakeholders who lost trust in the affected business entities. Although sometimes it

10332-420: The inequality between particular groups. The following quotes from Durkheim and Marx epitomize the political, as well as theoretical, disparities, between functionalist and conflict thought respectively: To aim for a civilization beyond that made possible by the nexus of the surrounding environment will result in unloosing sickness into the very society we live in. Collective activity cannot be encouraged beyond

10455-438: The larger economic forces acting upon them. Local actors are more likely to have values similar to those of stakeholders, have established some history in the area, and have had the time to develop meaningful relationships within the community. This shared experience shaped the process of acquiring a social license. Nonlocal actors are likely to experience a much lesser degree of social license than local actors. Furthermore, many of

10578-438: The later decades of the nineteenth century. To say this is certainly not to claim that French sociologists such as Durkheim were devoted disciples of the high priest of positivism. But by insisting on the irreducibility of each of his basic sciences to the particular science of sciences which it presupposed in the hierarchy and by emphasizing the nature of sociology as the scientific study of social phenomena Comte put sociology on

10701-453: The less complex sciences , attacking the laissez-faire sociology of Herbert Spencer and Sumner. Ward's 1,200-page book was used as core material in many early American sociology courses. In 1890, the oldest continuing American course in the modern tradition began at the University of Kansas , lectured by Frank W. Blackmar . The Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago was established in 1892 by Albion Small , who also published

10824-401: The map. To be sure, [its] beginnings can be traced back well beyond Montesquieu , for example, and to Condorcet , not to speak of Saint-Simon , Comte's immediate predecessor. But Comte's clear recognition of sociology as a particular science, with a character of its own, justified Durkheim in regarding him as the father or founder of this science, even though Durkheim did not accept the idea of

10947-419: The meaning attributed to the agent or agents, as types, in a pure type constructed in the abstract. In neither case is the 'meaning' to be thought of as somehow objectively 'correct' or 'true' by some metaphysical criterion. This is the difference between the empirical sciences of action, such as sociology and history, and any kind of prior discipline, such as jurisprudence, logic, ethics, or aesthetics whose aim

11070-478: The means of violence in the context of the industrialisation of war). The first college course entitled "Sociology" was taught in the United States at Yale in 1875 by William Graham Sumner . In 1883, Lester F. Ward , who later became the first president of the American Sociological Association (ASA), published Dynamic Sociology—Or Applied social science as based upon statical sociology and

11193-785: The mid-20th century, especially, have led to increasingly interpretative , hermeneutic , and philosophical approaches towards the analysis of society. Conversely, the turn of the 21st century has seen the rise of new analytically , mathematically , and computationally rigorous techniques, such as agent-based modelling and social network analysis. Social research has influence throughout various industries and sectors of life, such as among politicians, policy makers , and legislators; educators ; planners ; administrators ; developers ; business magnates and managers; social workers; non-governmental organizations; and non-profit organizations, as well as individuals interested in resolving social issues in general. Sociological reasoning predates

11316-474: The most modern form of the conflict which primitive man must carry on with nature for his bodily existence. The eighteenth century may have called for liberation from all the ties which grew up historically in politics, in religion, in morality, and in economics to permit the original natural virtue of man, which is equal in everyone, to develop without inhibition; the nineteenth century may have sought to promote, in addition to man's freedom, his individuality (which

11439-424: The notion of objective sui generis "social facts" to serve as unique empirical objects for the science of sociology to study. The variety of positivism that remains dominant today is termed instrumental positivism . This approach eschews epistemological and metaphysical concerns (such as the nature of social facts) in favour of methodological clarity, replicability , reliability and validity . This positivism

11562-434: The opportunities for competitive advantage from building a social value proposition into corporate strategy. CSV gives the impression that only two stakeholders are essential – shareholders and consumers. Many companies employ benchmarking to assess their CSR policy, implementation, and effectiveness. Benchmarking involves reviewing competitor initiatives, measuring and evaluating the impact those policies have on society and

11685-427: The point set by the condition of the social organism without undermining health. The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in

11808-499: The positive and negative outcomes of their endeavors. In part, these benefits accrue by increasing positive public relations and high ethical standards to reduce business and legal risk by taking responsibility for corporate actions. CSR strategies encourage the company to make a positive impact on the environment and stakeholders including consumers, employees, investors, communities, and others. From an ethical perspective, some businesses will adopt CSR policies and practices because of

11931-506: The process of rationalization . The field predominated in continental Europe , with British anthropology and statistics generally following on a separate trajectory. By the turn of the 20th century, however, many theorists were active in the English-speaking world . Few early sociologists were confined strictly to the subject, interacting also with economics, jurisprudence , psychology and philosophy, with theories being appropriated in

12054-400: The progression of human understanding, after conjectural theological and metaphysical phases. In observing the circular dependence of theory and observation in science, and having classified the sciences, Comte may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term. Comte gave a powerful impetus to the development of sociology, an impetus that bore fruit in

12177-480: The public perception of an organisation may be associated with its branding rather than its corporate identity: McIntosh uses Virgin as an example. Similarly, Anne Bahr Thompson uses the same term and observes that companies adopting socially responsible behaviours are primarily investing in their reputations . In the 21st century, corporate social responsibility in the supply chain has attracted attention from businesses and stakeholders. A corporation's supply chain

12300-427: The relationship between social and financial performance, concluding that the contradictory results of previous studies reporting positive, negative, and neutral financial impact were due to flawed empirical analysis and claimed when the study is properly specified, CSR has a neutral impact on financial outcomes. Critics have questioned the "lofty" and sometimes "unrealistic expectations" of CSR, or observed that CSR

12423-683: The reports vary widely in format, style, and evaluation methodology (even within the same industry). Critics dismiss these reports as lip service, citing examples such as Enron 's yearly "Corporate Responsibility Annual Report" and tobacco companies' social reports. In South Africa, as of June 2010, all companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) were required to produce an integrated report in place of an annual financial report and sustainability report. An integrated report reviews environmental, social, and economic performance alongside financial performance. This requirement

12546-516: The researchers conducted a regression analysis and preceded the analysis with the provision of several measures that they utilized to serve as proxies for key financial performance indicators (i.e. return on assets serves as a proxy for profitability). Initially, CSR emphasized the official behaviour of individual firms. Later, it expanded to include supplier behaviour, the uses to which products were put, and how articles were disposed of after they lost value. Malcolm McIntosh notes also that focussing on

12669-893: The resources affected by forest management are held in the public trust, so it is essential for both industry actors and community stakeholders to feel engaged and involved in decisions regarding local natural resource management. Baines and Edwards shared similar findings in New Zealand's aquaculture sector regarding the importance of relationships and communication between industry and local stakeholders. They find that social license depends on relationships and building trust. Smaller, local companies tend towards relationships that are relational as opposed to transactional, possibly due to their ongoing community presences and communication abilities, which are better for fostering these relationships and trust building. In research of Requisite Organization , Elliott Jaques defines Social License to Operate for

12792-630: The rising concerns on ethical issues in businesses. A review of 14,523 articles found that stakeholder perspective is the most prevalent dimension of corporate social responsibility. This view is reflected in the Business Dictionary that defines CSR as "a company's sense of responsibility towards the community and environment (both ecological and social) in which it operates. Companies express this citizenship (1) through their waste and pollution reduction processes, (2) by contributing educational and social programs, and (3) by earning adequate returns on

12915-462: The same as that set forth by Comte, who was unique in advocating such a rigid (and perhaps optimistic) version. While Émile Durkheim rejected much of the detail of Comte's philosophy, he retained and refined its method. Durkheim maintained that the social sciences are a logical continuation of the natural ones into the realm of human activity, and insisted that they should retain the same objectivity, rationalism, and approach to causality. He developed

13038-937: The same fundamental motive was at work, namely the resistance of the individual to being leveled, swallowed up in the social-technological mechanism. The contemporary discipline of sociology is theoretically multi-paradigmatic in line with the contentions of classical social theory. Randall Collins ' well-cited survey of sociological theory retroactively labels various theorists as belonging to four theoretical traditions: Functionalism, Conflict, Symbolic Interactionism, and Utilitarianism. Accordingly, modern sociological theory predominantly descends from functionalist (Durkheim) and conflict (Marx and Weber) approaches to social structure, as well as from symbolic-interactionist approaches to social interaction, such as micro-level structural ( Simmel ) and pragmatist ( Mead , Cooley ) perspectives. Utilitarianism (also known as rational choice or social exchange), although often associated with economics,

13161-449: The same manner as natural science . An emphasis on empiricism and the scientific method is sought to provide a tested foundation for sociological research based on the assumption that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only arrive by positive affirmation through scientific methodology. Our main goal is to extend scientific rationalism to human conduct.... What has been called our positivism

13284-572: The scientific understanding of social life. Writing shortly after the malaise of the French Revolution , he proposed that social ills could be remedied through sociological positivism , an epistemological approach outlined in the Course in Positive Philosophy (1830–1842), later included in A General View of Positivism (1848). Comte believed a positivist stage would mark the final era in

13407-595: The social initiative done by the company is not aligned with other company goals it will have a negative impact. Mohr et al. (2001) and Groza et al. (2011) also emphasise the importance of reaching the consumer. Some commentators have identified a difference between the Canadian (Montreal school of CSR), the Continental European , and the Anglo-Saxon approaches to CSR. It has been described that for Chinese consumers

13530-433: The structure and the function of social systems and to analyzing processes of evolution via mechanisms of adaptation. Functionalism strongly emphasizes the pre-eminence of the social world over its individual parts (i.e. its constituent actors, human subjects). Functionalist theories emphasize "cohesive systems" and are often contrasted with "conflict theories", which critique the overarching socio-political system or emphasize

13653-452: The survey-research of Paul Lazarsfeld at Columbia University and the general theorizing of Pitirim Sorokin , followed by Talcott Parsons at Harvard University . Ultimately, "the failure of the Chicago, Columbia, and Wisconsin [sociology] departments to produce a significant number of graduate students interested in and committed to general theory in the years 1936–45 was to the advantage of

13776-487: The tasks at hand. Therefore, society is a complex, ever-changing mosaic of subjective meanings. Some critics of this approach argue that it only looks at what is happening in a particular social situation, and disregards the effects that culture, race or gender (i.e. social-historical structures) may have in that situation. Some important sociologists associated with this approach include Max Weber , George Herbert Mead , Erving Goffman , George Homans , and Peter Blau . It

13899-413: The three states and criticized Comte's approach to sociology. Both Comte and Karl Marx set out to develop scientifically justified systems in the wake of European industrialization and secularization , informed by various key movements in the philosophies of history and science . Marx rejected Comtean positivism but in attempting to develop a "science of society" nevertheless came to be recognized as

14022-419: The two, was the principal achievement of Marx's theory. The sociological treatment of historical and moral problems, which Comte and after him, Spencer and Taine , had discussed and mapped, became a precise and concrete study only when the attack of militant Marxism made its conclusions a burning issue, and so made the search for evidence more zealous and the attention to method more intense. Herbert Spencer

14145-550: The understanding of social processes and phenomenological method. Traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification , social class , social mobility , religion , secularization , law , sexuality , gender , and deviance . Recent studies have added socio-technical aspects of the digital divide as a new focus. As all spheres of human activity are affected by the interplay between social structure and individual agency , sociology has gradually expanded its focus to other subjects and institutions, such as health and

14268-591: The writings of European contributors to modern sociology. Khaldun's Muqaddimah was considered to be amongst the first works to advance social-scientific reasoning on social cohesion and social conflict . The word sociology derives part of its name from the Latin word socius ('companion' or 'fellowship' ). The suffix -logy ('the study of') comes from that of the Greek -λογία , derived from λόγος ( lógos , 'word' or 'knowledge'). The term sociology

14391-459: Was defined by Sheehy as "international private business self-regulation". Sheehy examined a range of different disciplinary approaches to defining CSR. The definitions reviewed included the economic definition of "sacrificing profits", a management definition of "beyond compliance", institutionalist views of CSR as a "socio-political movement," and the law's focus on directors' duties. Further, Sheehy considered Archie B. Carroll's description of CSR as

14514-435: Was established in 1892 by Albion Small —from the invitation of William Rainey Harper —at the University of Chicago . The American Journal of Sociology was founded shortly thereafter in 1895 by Small as well. The institutionalization of sociology as an academic discipline, however, was chiefly led by Émile Durkheim , who developed positivism as a foundation for practical social research . While Durkheim rejected much of

14637-590: Was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès in an unpublished manuscript . Sociology was later defined independently by French philosopher of science Auguste Comte (1798–1857) in 1838 as a new way of looking at society. Comte had earlier used the term social physics , but it had been subsequently appropriated by others, most notably the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet . Comte endeavored to unify history, psychology, and economics through

14760-580: Was founded by Ferdinand Tönnies , Max Weber, and Georg Simmel , among others. Weber established the first department in Germany at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1919, having presented an influential new antipositivist sociology. In 1920, Florian Znaniecki set up the first department in Poland . The Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt (later to become

14883-546: Was implemented in the absence of formal or legal standards. An Integrated Reporting Committee (IRC) was established to issue guidelines for good practice. One of the reputable institutions that capital markets turn to for credible sustainability reports is the Carbon Disclosure Project , or CDP. Consumers of goods and services should verify corporate social responsibility and the results of reports and efforts. The accounting, auditing, and reporting resources provide

15006-528: Was one of the most popular and influential 19th-century sociologists. It is estimated that he sold one million books in his lifetime, far more than any other sociologist at the time. So strong was his influence that many other 19th-century thinkers, including Émile Durkheim , defined their ideas in relation to his. Durkheim's Division of Labour in Society is to a large extent an extended debate with Spencer from whose sociology Durkheim borrowed extensively. Also

15129-448: Was theorized in full by Durkheim, again with respect to observable, structural laws. Functionalism also has an anthropological basis in the work of theorists such as Marcel Mauss , Bronisław Malinowski , and Radcliffe-Brown . It is in the latter's specific usage that the prefix "structural" emerged. Classical functionalist theory is generally united by its tendency towards biological analogy and notions of social evolutionism , in that

#473526