Although the idea of social responsibility has a long and distinguished intellectual pedigree, Corporate Social Responsibility (or ‘CSR’) has re-emerged during the last fifteen years or so as a high-profile concept in both academia and business practice. This revitalized interest has come about largely because of the development of the ‘markets for virtue’ that have institutionalized CSR in business practices in an unprecedented manner. CSR has achieved organizational distinctiveness within companies (e.g. in managerial and board responsibilities); social and environmental reporting requirements have dramatically increased; socially responsible investment funds have not only established themselves in their own right, but have also informed more mainstream investment criteria, particularly regarding social and environmental risk; a CSR consultancy industry has emerged, along with various ‘vanguard groups’ and NGOs who seek not only to promote CSR, but also to bring critical perspectives to bear and to raise CSR standards; and governments around the globe have encouraged investment in CSR, better reporting of these activities, and the implementation of CSR initiatives that complement broader public policies.
As research in and around CSR blossoms as never before, this new four-volume collection from Routledge’s acclaimed Critical Perspectives on Business and Management series meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of a rapidly growing and ever more complex corpus of literature. Edited by two scholars from Nottingham University’s world-class International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, the collection gathers foundational and canonical work, together with innovative and cutting-edge applications and interventions.
With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Corporate Social Responsibility is an essential work of reference. The collection will be particularly useful as an essential database allowing scattered and often fugitive material to be easily located. It will also be welcomed as a crucial tool permitting rapid access to less familiar—and sometimes overlooked—texts. For researchers, students, practitioners, and policy-makers, it is as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.
