Corporate Social Responsibility: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

In this article I critically analyze contemporary discourses of corporate social responsibility and related discourses of sustainability and corporate citizenship. I argue that despite their emancipatory rhetoric, discourses of corporate citizenship, social responsibility and sustainability are defined by narrow business interests and serve to curtail interests of external stakeholders. I provide an alternate perspective, one that views discourses of corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability as ideological movements that are intended to legitimize and consolidate the power of large corporations. I also problematize the popular notion of organizational `stakeholders'. I argue…

• UN
  United Nations Development Programme
• OD
  Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Économiques
• WB
  World Business Council for Sustainable Development