Unshared: A Failed History of Corporate Social Responsibility
A history of corporate social responsibility forthcoming from W.W. Norton & Co., Unshared weaves archival research with compelling stories of business leaders, social activists, and policymakers from the progressive era to the age of shareholder value. The book provides readers with a new understanding of ESG investing, stakeholder value, and so-called “woke capitalism” and the failure of such movements to achieve their promised aims. The book presents the startling case that what thwarts corporate reformers is also what drives popular anxieties about corporate power—that the business corporation has never assimilated the highest ideals and deepest instincts of our democracy.
A history of corporate social responsibility forthcoming from W.W. Norton & Co., Unshared weaves archival research with compelling stories of business leaders, social activists, and policymakers from the progressive era to the age of shareholder value. The book provides readers with a new understanding of ESG investing, stakeholder value, and so-called “woke capitalism” and the failure of such movements to achieve their promised aims. The book presents the startling case that what thwarts corporate reformers is also what drives popular anxieties about corporate power—that the business corporation has never assimilated the highest ideals and deepest instincts of our democracy.