The Life and Death of Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has now been clearly identified, categorised and theorised so that we can all be certain what is meant by the name and how it can be achieved. Indeed it is regularly practiced by all (or at least most) businesses and taught in business schools – so much so that it is largely unquestioned. This chapter looks at the development of CSR and its acceptance as a distinct discipline in its own right. In doing so it comes to the conclusion that CSR, as currently defined, has actually died and so needs to be rediscovered. The author argues the case that it is only by looking at current practice amongst businesses and the community that we can arrive at a realistic definition – which inevitably metamorphoses through time as culture and the economic environment change. Therefore what is currently identified as CSR is merely of historic interest. The implications of the argument are that research approaches need to change and so does the definition of CSR.