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Beyond CSR to System Change: Creating a New Socio-economic Narrative

Corporate Social Responsibility

ISBN: 978-1-78754-260-0, eISBN: 978-1-78754-259-4

Publication date: 14 May 2018

Abstract

This chapter argues that corporate social responsibility (CSR) and even corporate sustainability and responsibility will be insufficient to generate the transformation needed for businesses, economies, and societies to deal with potentially existential sustainability, climate change, and inequality crises. A new socio-economic narrative needs to be created to underpin thinking about economies, societies, and nature. After briefly looking at CSR today, the paper discusses the power that the neoliberal narrative has in shaping understanding of the roles and purposes of businesses. It then argues for a new narrative emphasizing well-being, dignity, and sustainability, an economy in service to life, as an alternative, highlighting the powerful role that memes, core units of culture, play in shaping narratives.

Keywords

Citation

Waddock, S. (2018), "Beyond CSR to System Change: Creating a New Socio-economic Narrative", Corporate Social Responsibility (Business and Society 360, Vol. 2), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 377-401. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2514-175920180000002010

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018 Emerald Publishing Limited