Book Review

Book Review

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to give them an opportunity to understand the concept of two books that are Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice (Urban and Industrial Environments) written by D. N. Pellow and the other book is The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility written by D. Vogel. Both these books provide the readers an idea regarding the corporate social responsibility and the movements for environmental justice.

The Market for Virtue

The contribution is to present a brief overview of the evolution of concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social responsibility (CSR). As you will see it has since gained different meanings: as a form of legitimacy of the class of businessmen and then licensed to operate as a moral obligation, as a tool for sustainability, as a means of reputation. To date, the debate has not led to a broad definition and universally recognized CSR. In the time it was not for the exclusive prerogative of academia, but it involved a multiplicity of actors and points of view, that have contributed to enrich the content and supporting them or refute them through the development of many practical experiences in the world. Then we will try to outline the essential stages of policy development European CSR, to provide a context not only of the possible approaches to theme, but also the institutional dimension in which the organizations affected by studio work.

The cultural roots of CSR may be sought in the Anglo and beginning of the debate can be found already in America in the '20s, when trade unions, farmer organizations, churches and moral authority practiced for the first time forms of democratic pressure to which the men business executives were asked to respond by providing proactive responses. Already among the late nineteenth and early twentieth century the pressure of American public had led to the birth of the first forms of antimonopoly legislation and had led some industry known as Rockefeller and Carnegie to experience first forms of corporate philanthropy. In short, the pressure of public opinion is translated force expressed by trade union struggles in the era, which led to the first philanthropists aware of housing conditions, health and retirement security of their workers and to develop the first forms of corporate welfare (Vogel, 2005). 

The first broad study on the formation of a social consciousness of businessmen. According to the author social responsibility of business refers to "the obligations of businessmen to pursue those policies, to take decisions and to follow those lines of action which are desirable in relation to the objectives and values of our society”. This first definition of social responsibility that comes businessmen "as servants of society, must not neglect the values socially accepted or pretend their own values to those of society". Not question therefore arises of identifying the entities against which to define responsibilities of the manager (they being in the service of a "world" of social values) and their power would be legitimized by its usefulness to society as a whole (and not only for own and ...