1st Edition

Corporate Social Responsibility and the Welfare State The Historical and Contemporary Role of CSR in the Mixed Economy of Welfare

By Jeanette Brejning Copyright 2012
208 Pages
by Routledge

208 Pages
by Routledge

208 Pages
by Routledge

Over the past four decades many European welfare states have seen an increasing involvement of the commercial sector in their mixed economies of welfare. One aspect of this development that has yet to be fully understood in social policy analysis is the engagement of businesses to address social problems, such as social exclusion, through activities labelled as 'corporate social responsibility'... Read more
Chapter 1 Introduction; Part I Theory and Concepts; Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework; Chapter 3 Corporate Social Responsibility; Part II A History of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Mixed Economy of Welfare; Chapter 101 Introduction to Part II; Chapter 4 Connections between CSR and Nineteenth-century Philanthropy; Chapter 5 CSR as Social Policy; Chapter 6 CSR, Globalization and Anti-globalization; Chapter 102 Conclusion to Part II; Part III Case Study; Chapter 103 Introduction to Part III; Chapter 7 Is There a ‘Social Case’ for Corporate Social Responsibility? Views on the Social Impacts of CSR; Chapter 8 CSR and the Changing Welfare State; Chapter 9 Conclusion;

Biography

Jeanette Brejning is Honorary Fellow in the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, UK

'The contribution of CSR to the mixed economy of welfare has not been given the attention it requires and deserves in social policy analysis. This book seeks to put this right. It should be read by anyone with an interest in how corporations contribute (or should contribute) to the welfare of their various stakeholders in society, including students of social policy, public policy, the sociology of work, business and management studies and human relations.' Kevin Farnsworth, University of Sheffield, UK 'The idea of corporate social responsibility has acquired growing significance in a world where corporate power may now have greater influence over people's wellbeing and life chances than the power of nation states. Jeanette Brejning's new book explores the multiple meanings and underlying potential of an idea that has hitherto been largely neglected in the social policy literature.' Hartley Dean, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK 'Jeanette’s Brejning’s book discusses an important, yet frequently ignored, part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) debate: the relationship between a firm’s social responsibilities and the welfare state. Discussing this topic is a much-welcomed addition to existing scholarly work on the nature and impact of CSR... Brejning’s detailed and well-written inquiry into the role of the welfare state looks at CSR less from a corporate angle, but instead explores its embeddedness into multi-actor governance structures reaching from state-based regulation to transnational soft-law mechanisms... Overall, the book offers a very interesting and refreshing journey into unexplored ’CSR territory’. For all those who look for scholarly perspectives that reach beyond the widespread discussions of CSR’s business benefits, this book has a lot to offer. Given that the relationship between CSR and the state is not yet sufficiently explored, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in developing a broader unders