Corporate Power and Responsibility: A Citizenship Perspective

This chapter provides the metaphor of citizenship to business-society relations. It addresses the drivers of business power and the movement for corporate social responsibility. The chapter argues that the concept of citizenship is appropriate for consideration of the power and responsibility of corporations for several particular reasons. Corporations are generally regarded as the most prominent organizations of contemporary capitalism in part because of the employment, production, investment and wealth that they account for. The possession of power is often a pre-requisite to the ability to take responsibility, yet its possession is also regarded as a reason for which its custodians, users and beneficiaries are expected to exercise responsibly. More specifically, citizenship is an organizing principle for aligning powers and responsibilities among members of political communities, and between them and other institutions wielding power and responsibility.