Corporate Social Responsibility

          The term “corporate social responsibility” is from a book published in the 1950s by Howard Bowen, the man that many consider to be the father of CSR.[1] Though the term came from the 1950s, the idea of corporations having a responsibility greater than their shareholders began as early as the late 1800s and became a more common topic in the early twentieth century. In the wake of the Great Depression, a second wave of regulation swept around the world, spearheaded by Roosevelt's New Deal and regulations of the postwar Labour Government in the United Kingdom.[2] The next resurgence of CSR came about in the 1960s-1970s, when the topic of environmental degradation spread like wildfire.[3] During the 1960s there was also a push to get a hold of Transnational Corporations (TNCs). This push, brought on primarily through the UN, stemmed from the 1950s, when the world realized that the power held by corporations was drastically disproportionate to the amount of power held by small new nations. However, it wasn’t until the 1960s and 1970s that this legislation was actually passed.[4] In the 1980s and 1990s there was a distinct shift away from legislation, culminating in the “heyday of neo-liberal policies” in the mid to late 1990s.[5] The debate today over CSR revolves around all of the issues and topics discussed in the past. The question today is: should regulation of corporations encompass CSR?