Abstract
The notion of citizenship is bound up with expectations about behaviour in public. In contrast to the ‘bourgeois’ focus on the private and economic realm, the ‘citoyen’ plays his social role in the public sphere. Citizenship refers to the conditions of membership in a political community and thus concerns publicly relevant and observable aspects of behaviour. Whether organizations — and business firms in particular — may be considered as ‘citizens’, depends on what aspects of their public role are highlighted.1 On the one hand, most organizations cannot help but act in public and are therefore confronted with the expectations of various groups affected by their decision-making: ‘Organizations in modern societies are public not only in the sense that their structures, processes and ideologies are open to observation, but also in their ultimate dependence on public acceptance, i.e. positioning themselves in relation to the perceptions and policies of society at large’, summarizes Brunsson (1989: 216). On the other hand, liberals such as Milton Friedman (1970) argue that business decisions are essentially ‘private’ decisions made by or on behalf of the owners of a company. Yet those two perspectives can be easily reconciled: just as the individual is both a ‘bourgeois’ and a citoyen (depending on whether economic or political roles are concerned), organizational role-sets, too, include both private and public dimensions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Basu, K. and P. Palazzo (2008) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: A Process Model of Sensemaking’, Academy of Management Review, 33, 1: 122–136.
Beck, U. (1995) ‘Judo-Politik’, Die Tageszeitung, 1 July, 13–14.
Blum, A. F. and P. McHugh (1971) ‘The Social Ascription of Motives’, American Sociological Review, 36, 1: 98–109.
Bob, C. (2005) The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media and International Activism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Boli, J. (1999) ‘Conclusion: World Authority Structures and Legitimations’, in J. Boli and G. M. Thomas (eds) Constructing World Culture: International Nongovernmental Organizations since 1875, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 267–300.
Boli, J. and G. M. Thomas (1999) ‘INGOs and the Organization of World Culture’, in J. Boli and G. M. Thomas (eds) Constructing World Culture: International Nongovernmental Organizations since 1875, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 13–49.
BPEO (1994) Brent Spar — Best Practicable Environmental Option Assessment (Rudall Blanchard), London: Shell UK (http://www.shellexpro.brentspar.com).
Brunsson, N. (1989) The Organization of Hypocrisy. Talk, Decisions and Actions in Organizations, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Brunsson, N. (1993) ‘Ideas and Actions: Justification and Hypocrisy as Alternatives to Control’, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 18, 489–506.
Brunsson, N. and J. P. Olsen (1993) The Reforming Organization, London/New York: Routledge.
Carroll, A. B. (1991) ‘The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of Organizational Stakeholders’, Business Horizons, 34, 4: 39–48.
Crane, A., D. Matten and J. Moon (2008) Corporations and Citizenship, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
den Hond, F. and F. G. A. de Bakker (2007) ‘Ideologically Motivated Activism: How Activist Groups Influence Corporate Social Change’, Academy of Management Review, 32, 3: 901–924.
Dewey, J. (1926) ‘The Historic Background of Corporate Legal Personality’, Yale Law Journal, 35, 6: 655–673.
Dyllick, T. (1989) Management der Umweltbeziehungen. Öffentliche Auseinandersetzungen als Herausforderung, Wiesbaden: Gabler.
Friedman, M. (1970) ‘The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits’, New York Times Magazine, 13 September 1970, 32–33 and 122, 124, 126.
Garsten, C. (2003) ‘The Cosmopolitan Organization — An Essay on Corporate Accountability’, Global Networks, 3, 3: 355–370.
Gerencser, S. (2005) ‘The Corporate Person and Democratic Politics’, Political Research Quarterly, 58, 4, 625–635.
Goffman, E. (1990 [1956]) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, London: Penguin.
Goodpaster, K. E. (1983) ‘The Concept of Corporate Responsibility’, in T. Regan (ed.) Just Business. New Introductory Essays in Business Ethics, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, pp. 292–323.
Grolin, J. (1998) ‘Corporate Legitimacy in Risk Society: The Case of Brent Spar’, Business Strategy and the Environment, 7, 4: 213–222.
Hansen, A. (2000) ‘Claims-Making and Framing in British Newspaper Coverage of the “Brent Spar” Controversy’, in S. Allan, B. Adam and C. Carter (eds) Environmental Risks and the Media, London/New York: Routledge, pp. 55–72.
Hecker, S. (1997) Kommunikation in ökologischen Unternehmenskrisen, Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitätsverlag.
Hertel, S. (2006) Unexpected Power: Conflict and Change among Transnational Activists, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Holzer, B. (2001) ‘Transnational Protest and the Corporate Planet — The Case of Mitsubishi Corporation vs. the Rainforest Action Network’, Asian Journal of Social Science, 29, 1: 73–86.
Holzer, B. (2008a) ‘From Accounts to Accountability: The Corporate Response to Public Criticism and Social Movement Activism’, in M. Boström and C. Garsten (eds) Organizing Transnational Accountability, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 80–97.
Holzer, B. (2008b) ‘Turning Stakeseekers into Stakeholders: A Political Coalition Perspective on the Politics of Stakeholder Influence’, Business & Society, 47, 1: 50–67.
Holzer, B. (2010) Moralizing the Corporation: Transnational Activism and Corporate Accountability, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Jordan, G. (2001) Shell, Greenpeace and the Brent Spar, Houndmills/New York: Palgrave.
Keck, M. E. and K. Sikkink (1998) ‘Transnational Advocacy Networks in International Politics: Introduction’, in M. E. Keck and K. Sikkink (eds) Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, pp. 1–36.
Lenox, M. J. and C. E. Eesley (2009) ‘Private Environmental Activism and the Selection and Response of Firm Targets’, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 18, 1: 45–73.
Lippmann, W. (1922) Public Opinion, London: George Allen & Unwin.
Livesey, S. M. (2001) ‘Eco-Identity as Discursive Struggle: Royal Dutch/Shell, Brent Spar, and Nigeria’, Journal of Business Communication, 38, 1: 58–91.
Luhmann, N. (1968) Zweckbegriff und Systemrationalität. Über die Funktion von Zwecken in sozialen Systemen, Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck).
Meyer, J. W. (1994) ‘Rationalized Environments’, in W. R. Scott and J.W. Meyer (eds) Institutional Environments and Organizations: Structural Complexity and Individualism, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 28–54.
Meyer, J. W. (1996) ‘Otherhood: The Promulgation and Transmission of Ideas in the Modern Organizational Environment’, in B. Czarniawska and G. Sevón (eds) Translating Organizational Change, Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, pp. 241–252.
Meyer, J. W. (2000) ‘Globalization: Sources and Effects on National States and Societies’, International Sociology, 15, 2: 233–248.
Meyer, J. W., J. Boli, G. M. Thomas and F. O. Ramirez (1997) ‘World Society and the Nation-State’, American Journal of Sociology, 103, 1: 144–181.
Meyer, J. W. and R. L. Jepperson (2000) ‘The “Actors” of Modern Society: The Cultural Construction of Social Agency’, Sociological Theory, 18, 1: 100–120.
Micheletti, M. (2003) Political Virtue and Shopping. Individuals, Consumerism, and Collective Action, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mintzberg, H. (1983) Power In and Around Organizations, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Mörth, U. (ed.) (2004) Soft Law in Governance and Regulation: An Interdisciplinary Analysis, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Neale, A. (1997) ‘Organisational Learning in Contested Environments: Lessons from Brent Spar’, Business Strategy and the Environment, 6, 93–103.
Schepers, D. H. (2006) ‘The Impact of NGO Network Conflict on the Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies of Multinational Corporations’, Business & Society, 45, 3: 282–299.
Scherer, A. G. and G. Palazzo (2007) ‘Toward a Political Conception of Corporate Responsibility: Business and Society Seen from a Habermasian Perspective’, Academy of Management Review, 32, 4: 1096–1120.
Scherer, A. G. and G. Palazzo (2011) ‘The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and Its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy’, Journal of Management Studies, 48, 4: 899–931.
Scherler, P. (1996) Kommunikation mit externen Anspruchsgruppen als Erfolgsfaktor im Krisenmanagement eines Konzerns. Erfahrungen aus dem Fall Brent Spar (Greenpeace vs. Shell), Basel/Frankfurt: Helbing & Lichtenhahn.
Scott, M. B. and S. M. Lyman (1968) ‘Accounts’, American Sociological Review, 33, 1: 46–62.
Sethi, S. P. and J. E. Post (1979) ‘Public Consequences of Private Action: The Marketing of Infant Formula in Less Developed Countries’, California Management Review, 21, 4: 35–48.
Shell, U. K. (1995) ‘Press Release: Shell Refutes Greenpeace Allegations (17 June 1995)’, http://www.shellexpro.brentspar.com.
Spar, D. L. and L. T. La Mure (2003) ‘The Power of Activism: Assessing the Impact of NGOs on Global Business’, California Management Review, 45, 3: 78–101.
Stolle, D, M. Hooghe and M. Micheletti (2005) ‘Politics in the Supermarket: Political Consumerism as a Form of Political Participation’, International Political Science Review, 26, 3:245–269.
Thomas, W. I. and D. S. Thomas (1928) The Child in America. Behavior Problems and Programs, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Tsoukas, H. (1999) ‘David and Goliath in the Risk Society: Making Sense of the Conflict between Shell and Greenpeace in the North Sea’, Organization, 6, 3: 499–528.
Visser, W. (2011) The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Vogel, D. (1975) ‘The Corporation as Government: Challenges & Dilemmas’, Polity, 8, 1: 5–37.
Vogel, D. (1978) Lobbying the Corporation: Citizen Challenges to Business Authority, New York: Basic Books.
Vorfelder, J. (1995) Brent Spar oder die Zukunft der Meere, München: Beck.
Watts, P. (1998) ‘The International Petroleum Industry: Economic Actor or Social Activist?’ in J. V. Mitchell (ed.) Companies in a World of Conflict: NGOs, Sanctions and Corporate Responsibility, London: Royal Institute of International Affairs/ Earthscan, pp. 23–31.
Wätzold, F. (1996) ‘When Environmentalists Have Power: The Case of the Brent Spar’, in H. Madsen and J. P. Ulhoi (eds) Industry and the Environment. Practical Applications of Environmental Management Approaches in Business, Gylling: Naryana Press, pp. 327–338.
Werron, T. and B. Holzer (2009) ‘Public Otherhood’. World Society, Theorization and Global Systems Dynamics (Working Paper 02/2009), Bielefeld: Institut für Weltgesellschaft, http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/soz/iw/publikationen/workingpaper_gk/WP-2009–02_Werron-Holzer_Public-Otherhood.pdf.
Willetts, P. (1998) ‘Political Globalization and the Impact of NGOs Upon Transnational Companies’, in J. V. Mitchell (ed.), Companies in a World of Conflict: NGOs, Sanctions and Corporate Responsibility, London: Royal Institute of International Affairs/Earthscan, pp. 195–226.
Yearley, S. and J. Forrester (2000) ‘Shell, a Sure Target for Global Environmental Campaigning?’ in R. Cohen and S. M. Rai (eds), Global Social Movements, London: Athlone Press, pp. 134–145.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2013 Boris Holzer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Holzer, B. (2013). Inadvertent Citizens: Corporate Citizenship and Moral Actorhood. In: Helgesson, K.S., Mörth, U. (eds) The Political Role of Corporate Citizens. Palgrave Studies in Citizenship Transitions series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137026828_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137026828_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-43942-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-02682-8
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)