Marxism and business ethics

I explain how a Marxist would understand and respond to the phenomenon of business ethics. In Section I, I maintain that a Marxist would supplement traditional explanations of the increased interest in business ethics by an emphasis on class needs created by a situation of declining profits. I argue...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics
Main Author: Massey, Stephen J. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 1982
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 1982, Volume: 1, Issue: 4, Pages: 301-312
Further subjects:B Capitalist Production
B Individual Interest
B Business Ethic
B Individual Member
B Economic Growth
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Summary:I explain how a Marxist would understand and respond to the phenomenon of business ethics. In Section I, I maintain that a Marxist would supplement traditional explanations of the increased interest in business ethics by an emphasis on class needs created by a situation of declining profits. I argue, in Section II, that business ethics might be used to address two needs created by this situation: (1) to legitimate the system of capitalist production: and (2) to discipline individual members of the bourgeoisie so that they will refrain from pursuing their individual interests when these conflict with the interests of their class. In Section III, I argue that there is no guarantee that business ethics will develop to meet these class needs, and that the questions to which an interest in business ethics gives rise may themselves lead to serious and effective criticism of business.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/BF00382819