A critique of Milton Friedman's essay ‘the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits’

The main arguments of Milton Friedman's famous and influential essay are unsuccessful: He fails to prove that the exercise of social responsibility in business is by nature an unfair and socialist practice., Much of Friedman's case is based on a questionable paradigm; a key premise is fals...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mulligan, Thomas (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer 1986
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 1986, Volume: 5, Issue: 4, Pages: 265-269
Further subjects:B Social Responsibility
B Socialist Practice
B Responsible Action
B Milton
B Economic Growth
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Description
Summary:The main arguments of Milton Friedman's famous and influential essay are unsuccessful: He fails to prove that the exercise of social responsibility in business is by nature an unfair and socialist practice., Much of Friedman's case is based on a questionable paradigm; a key premise is false; and logical cogency is sometimes missing., The author proposes a different paradigm for socially responsible action in business and argues that a commitment to social responsibility can be an integral element in strategic and operational business management without producing any of the objectionable results claimed by Friedman.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/BF00383091