1st Edition

Rethinking Capitalism Community and Responsibility in Business

By Rogene Buchholz Copyright 2009
    258 Pages
    by Routledge

    258 Pages
    by Routledge

    Given the world's current financial climate, Rethinking Capitalism couldn't come at a better time. With the government bailing out and taking over banks and other financial institutions, many are wondering what kind of capitalism we will end up with. Every day questions arise about whether the government should more actively regulate these institutions, and many are angered by the compensation and severance packages provided to the managers of failed institutions. What are our alternatives?

    Rethinking Capitalism questions the assumptions of a capitalist society, offers a new way to understand capitalism, and prescribes a different role for management. Using classical American pragmatism, Professor Emeritus of Business Ethics Rogene Buchholz analyzes the history of capitalistic thought and proposes that we recast management as a profession akin to law or medicine--with a defined code of ethics, oriented toward the public good as well as profit and maximization of shareholder wealth. Buchholz challenges the way we understand capitalism with its emphasis on the creation of economic wealth and growth to the exclusion of all else, and champion a new approach to the creation of a more sustainable and just functioning of the market system, corporate organization, and governance.

    Acknowledgements.  Introduction  Part 1: The Problem with Contemporary Capitalism  1. Individualism and Rights: The Basis of the Problem  2. Social Responsibility  3. Stakeholder Theory  4. Public Policy  5. Ethics  Part 2: A Theoretical Framework for New Directions in Capitalism  6. The Social Self and Community: The Foundation of the Framework  7. The Capitalist System  8. The Market System  9. The Natural Environment  Part 3: Implications of the Framework for the Corporation  10. The Corporation and Community  11. Globalization  12. Science and Technology  13. Governance  14. Management.  Selected Bibliography.  Index

    Biography

    Rogene Buchholz is Emeritus Legendre-Soule Chair in Business Ethics at the Loyola University New Orleans, and is author of more than a dozen books including Rethinking Business Ethics: A Pragmatic Approach (with Sandra B. Rosenthal, 2000).