CSR and the

Chapter 2

NEOLIBER
AL
IMAGINATI
ON
Steen Vallentin and David Murillo
CONTENTS OF THE TOPIC

***Understanding of the ambiguous and contested

relationship between neoliberalism and CSR (corporate
social responsibility)

• Stereotypical depictions of CSR as a neoliberal

discourse

• Foucauldian understanding of neoliberalism

• Varieties of liberalism at play in CSR

• Neoliberalism in regard to the theory and the practice

 A self-regulating business
model that helps a company
be socially accountable—to
itself, its stakeholders, and
the public.
 CSR is the long-term vow of
the business to perform
within the bounds of ethics
and to contribute to
economic advancement at
the same time improving the
quality of life of the workers
and their families as well as
of the local community and
society at large.
 It is a concept whereby
companies integrate their
environmental and social
concerns in their business
operations and their interaction
with their stakeholders on a
voluntary basis as they are
increasingly aware that
responsible behavior leads to
sustainable success.
 It helps forge a stronger bond
between employees and
corporations, boost morale, and
help both employees and
employers feel more connected
with the world around them
NE LIBERALISM
OIt is a political approach that
favors free-market
capitalism, deregulation, and
reduction in government
spending.
A theory of political economic
practices that proposes that
human well-being can best be
advanced by liberating individual
entrepreneurial freedoms and
skills within an institutional
framework characterized by
strong private property rights,
free markets and free trade
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
NEOLIBERALISM
PRIVATIZATI FREE
ON TRADE

DEREGULAT
ION
REDUCING ELIMINATI
PUBLIC ON OF
EXPENDITUR PUBLIC
E GOOD
BENEFITS OF
NEOLIBERALISM
LOWER
ECONO
TAXES
MIC
EFFICIE
NCY HIGHER
CHEAP LEVELS OF
ER INVESTME
GOODS NT
CRITICSMS OF
NEOLIBERALISM
ONE LOWER
SIZE WAGES
FITS ALL

DISPLAC FINANCI
ED AL
WORKE INSTABILI
RS TY
 Stereotypical depictions of
CSR as a neoliberal discourse
● Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has
increasingly been exposed to political
discussion.
● Practice of CSR are products of a
neoliberal imagination and that all
voluntary conceptions of CSR lend
support to a neoliberal agenda by
advocating deregulation.
● CSR is in conflict with ‘traditional’
business practice and is somehow
reflective of leftist ideology.
 Stereotypical depictions of
CSR as a neoliberal discourse
● CSR does not represent a challenge to
business but rather a further embedding of
capitalist social relations and a deeper
opening up of social life to the dictates of
the market place
● CSR as part of an ideological movement
that is intended to legitimize the power of
large corporations
● CSR is simply a palliative for a model of
capitalism that generates perverse social
and environmental effects or a crucial
element of ‘embedded liberalism’
 Stereotypical depictions of
CSR as a neoliberal discourse
● CSR is a post political form of
governance, “where conflictual
relationships are overshadowed by an
appeal to agreement and consensus”
● CSR is simply an embodiment or
reflection of neoliberalism
 IDEOLOGICAL HISTORY
Neoliberalism is associated with its moderate German variety (and
predecessor), ordoliberalism, which was developed from the late
1920s and onwards; with the creation of the Mont Pelerin Society in
1947—including among its members Friedrich A. Hayek and
Milton Friedman; with the emergence of the Chicago School of
Economics as an ideological powerhouse (spearheaded by
Friedman); with the experiment in neoliberal state formation that
took place in Pinochet’s Chile in the 1970s—orchestrated by ‘the
Chicago boys’; and with the widespread normalization of neoliberal
policies and mentalities that took place during the Thatcher and
Reagan years.

In terms of its political status, it is often considered to have become

hegemonic during the 1980s and 1990s where it displaced
Keynesianism, and thus state interventionism and embedded
IDEOLOGICAL HISTORY
It often conflated with neoclassical economics, it is also used
interchangeably with economic globalization and public policies
promoting deregulation, privatization and the free movement of
trade and, in particular, capital (‘the financialization of
everything’) – as reflected in the Washington Consensus of the
1990s and the market-oriented philosophy underlying the work
of institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank.
 IDEOLOGICAL HISTORY
Neoliberalism marks a territory that is ripe with
contradictions.

It cannot be reduced to a set of fixed commandments or

tenets, and it is in some respects important to be aware of
national or local differences in how it is understood and
applied.

However, it is possible to approach neoliberalism as a general

phenomenon and to understand how it differs from classical
and other forms of liberalism in an analytically fruitful (albeit
not exhaustive) way. The work of Michel Foucault provides a
useful departure for such an effort.
NEOLIBERALISM: A FOUCAULDIAN
READING

Paul-Michel Foucault was a French

philosopher, historian of ideas, writer,
political activist, and literary critic.
Foucault's theories primarily address
the relationship between power and
knowledge, and how they are used as
a form of social control through
societal institutions.
 Foucauldian Reading
Birth of Bio-Politics
Neoliberalism provides a radically altered view of
relationships between society and economy and between
state and market.

The economy is no longer considered a social domain

among others with its own intrinsic rationality. Instead,
“the area covered by the economy embraces the entirety
of human action”.

Foucault speaks of the absolute and unlimited

generalization
of the economic form of the market: “It involves
generalizing it throughout the social body and including
the whole of the social system not usually conducted
 Foucauldian
Readingpromotes an economic theory of
Neoliberalism
democracy that makes everything fair game for
marketization.

Neoliberalism assumes that the market can

provide solutions to any problems seemingly
caused by the market in the first place.

Neoliberalism promotes an enterprise society that

is subject to the dynamics of competition

Neoliberalism is not about laissez-faire; it is a call

for vigilance, activism, and perpetual intervention.
VARIETIES OF LIBERALISM
IN CSR

1 3

SOCIAL or NEOLIBERALIS
EMBEDDED M
LIBERALISM
2 4

CLASSICAL RE-EMBEDDED
LIBERALISM or POST-
LIBERALISM
VARIETIES OF LIBERALISM
IN CSR
1 SOCIAL or EMBEDDED
-the commonLIBERALISM
good is viewed as harmonious
with the freedom of the individual
- corporate conduct needs to be
legitimatized to basically every human
being
2 CLASSICAL LIBERALISM
-advocates civil liberties under the rule of
law with an emphasis on economic
freedom
- “do good” for the citizens in a given
society
VARIETIES OF LIBERALISM
IN CSR
3 NEOLIBERALISM
-It is based on the idea of economic freedom
and limited government involvement in
economic interactions between
individuals.
4 RE-EMBEDDED OR POST-
LIBERALISM
-believe that individuals have rights and
duties
-signals a politics that priorities society over
state and market
THANK
YOU!