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Socially Responsible Investment: How Shareholders Change Their Role within the Capitalism Paradigm

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Capitalism and the Social Relationship

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Abstract

From the perspective of a historical analysis of capitalism, Batsch (2002) proposes three successive phases of capitalism: a ‘family capitalism’ in which large companies are controlled by large families, succeeded by a ‘managerial capitalism’ in which economic power is held by managers without firm ownership (Berle & Means, 1932), and finally a ‘financial capitalism,’ which emerged at the beginning of the 1980s in the Unites States. Financial capitalism denounced the manager full powers and placed them under scrutiny. Since then, shareholder power has overtaken manager power. The continuous developments in capital markets have reinforced shareholders’ predominance. The privatization of formerly state-owned firms in Germany, France, and other European nations has also helped to force managers and board directors to pay more attention to profitability and shareholder returns (Davis et al., 2006). Nowadays, the roles that shareholders play in the economy are broader than ever.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sorbonne University, Paris 1, France

    Celine Gainet Ph.D.

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  1. Celine Gainet Ph.D.
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inver Hills Community College, USA

    Hamid Kazeroony

  2. Silesian University of Technology, Poland

    Agata Stachowicz-Stanusch

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© 2014 Celine Gainet

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Gainet, C. (2014). Socially Responsible Investment: How Shareholders Change Their Role within the Capitalism Paradigm. In: Kazeroony, H., Stachowicz-Stanusch, A. (eds) Capitalism and the Social Relationship. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137325709_11

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