Enriching Business Ethics / Edition 1

by Clarence C. Walton

Overview

Over thirty years ago, Alfred North Whitehead wrote: "If America is to be civilized, it has to be done (at least for the present) by the business class who are in possession of the power and the economic resources . . . . If the American universities were up to their job, they would be taking business in hand and teaching it ethics and professional standards. " * To the intellectual elites of his time, there was something of a minor in Whitehead's view. Few of them saw business as a civilizing force heresy and even fewer, feeling that business was not to be tamed, relished the role of the lion tamers. Not many today doubt Whitehead's wisdom. Organiza­ tions of wealth and power have accepted their corporate social responsibili­ ties, and universities have launched major efforts to provide ethical instruc­ tion for business personnel. So far as the scholars are concerned, they quickly came to realize the difficulty of an undertaking that seeks to redefine and apply moral criteria to a very complex corporate world. Philosophers, in particular, have learned (or perhaps have relearned) how their speculations on ethics must take into account the "living ethic" expressed in the American culture­ and here anthropologists, sociologists, and theologians were needed to provide an expertise that the moral manuals did not.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306434501
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	06/30/1990
Series:	Springer Studies in Work and Industry
Edition description:	1990
Pages:	286
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.03(d)

Table of Contents

I. Overview.- 1 Business Ethics: Widening the Lens.- II. Perspectives from Religion.- 2 Jewish Ethical Perspectives toward Business.- 3 Christian Religious Traditions.- III. Perspectives from Law, Sociology, and Industrial Relations.- 4 Ideals of Competition and Today’s Marketplace.- 5 America’s Neopluralism: The Proliferation of Interest Groups and Their Crippling Effect on Older Norms.- 6 Unions in the Nineties: Implications for Business Ethics.- IV. Perspectives on Education: Disciplines and Disciples.- 7 King Midas in America: Science, Morality, and Modern Life.- 8 Business Students and Ethics: Implications for Professors and Managers.- V. A Special Perspective: The AIDS Crisis.- 9 Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome: The Biological, Ethical, and Moral Dilemmas of This Twentieth-Century Plague.- VI. Conclusion.- 10 Retrospection.

Editorial Reviews

Offering perspectives from religion, law, sociology, psychology, education, industrial relations, ten thoughtful contributions address a wide spectrum of issues, among them, ethical restraints needed by a competitive market, the value structures of new Americans, the right to decent wages and working conditions, and the AIDS health crisis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews