Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility

ISBN-13: 9780521898409 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 210 str.

Sarah A. Soule

Opis

This book examines anti-corporate activism in the United States, including analysis of anti-corporate challenges associated with social movements as diverse as the Civil Rights Movement and the Dolphin-Safe Tuna Movement. Using a unique dataset of protest events in the United States, the book shows that anti-corporate activism is primarily about corporate policies, products, and negligence. Although activists have always been distrustful of corporations and sought to change them, until the 1970s and 1980s, this was primarily accomplished via seeking government regulation of corporations or via organized labor. Sarah A. Soule traces the shift brought about by deregulation and the decline in organized labor, which prompted activists to target corporations directly, often in combination with targeting the state. Using the literatures on contentious and private politics, which are both essential for understanding anti-corporate activism, the book provides a nuanced understanding of the changing focal points of activism directed at corporations.

Recenzje

'In this excellent synthesis of the literature, Soule has made a very useful contribution to the study of anti-corporate activism. Many studies analyze activism against specific corporate policies and actions. Soule takes a broader view and treats anti-corporate activism as part of a larger trend. She makes useful conceptual distinctions and subtle quantitative analysis of these trends and their effects on corporations and corporate social responsibility.' Mayer Zald, University of Michigan

Spis treści

1. Introduction; 2. Understanding social movements, contentions and private politics and their consequences; 3. Anti-corporate protest in the United States, 1960–1990; 4. The effect of protest on university divestment; 5. Private and contentious politics in the post-1990 era; 6. Conclusion.