How a Sense of Place May Return the Social License to Operate Concept Back to an Ethics of Responsibility Within a Neoliberal Framework — Tasmanian Salmon Story

Abstract

This chapter is a journey into the ontological significance of place in consideration of the Atlantic Tasmanian salmon industry and its challenges to the ethical discourse around the social license to operate (SLO) beyond the oxymoron of a name. It centres the discourse around the salmon itself. A once totem animal, responsible for the balance of Canada’s abundant ecosystem, now reduced to a mere source of protein, manipulated, and commodified by Tasmania’s ‘big business’ and against the SLO of Flanagan’s ‘Toxic’. It applies Ortega y Gasset’s mid-twentieth century solution to the problem of our western disconnection from place to the current neoliberal political framework. This welcomes an inclusive dialogue with kinship structures of the Mi’kmaq peoples reflected also in the ontological narrative of the First Nations people of Tasmania. This multidisciplinary journey necessitates a concept of the SLO founded upon ethical responsibility and a cultural license if it is to genuinely hold to account the corporate sovereign.

Citation

Bossi, L. (2023), "How a Sense of Place May Return the Social License to Operate Concept Back to an Ethics of Responsibility Within a Neoliberal Framework — Tasmanian Salmon Story", Breakey, H. (Ed.) Social Licence and Ethical Practice (Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations, Vol. 27), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 25-46. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-209620230000027004