| This dissertation is grounded in the belief that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is good for society. However, current indicators stemming from the marketplace raise concerns as to CSR's long term viability. In this dissertation, I argue that corporate social responsibility has reached a tipping point from which it may move to become a fully informed and dominant practice or recede into the status of a passing fad. This project is driven by the question, "What might be done to better ensure a fuller adoption of CSR as a standard business practice?" I am particularly interested in (1) why society needs CSR and (2) how CSR can be sustained. To answer this question, it will be necessary to engage the marketplace of commerce, understand CSR as it is currently implemented, and explore the relationship between CSR and neoclassical economic thought. |
