Responses to the corporate funded attacks on labor unions in Wisconsin and elsewhere have created new possibilities for turning our nation toward justice and sustainability. Will we be able to realize these possibilities? In other words, can our labor unions help civilize the economy? I think it depends on how they frame collective bargaining.
A new institute, The Public Banking Institute, has given us not only another piece of the puzzle of a sustainable economy, but also a way to consider the role of banking and of money in a civic economics of provision.
One can slice business ethics into various types, but one of the most significant differences in the field is the starting point. Some want to start in the midst of current business conversations, and then try to move students or mangers toward a more “ethical” view of their work. Others want to start with a vision of where business students and managers should be and then try to move them in that direction.
In his article on Adam Smith, Adam Gopnik leaves out a couple of important facts about the life of Adam Smith that provide clues to a very different story than the one Gopnik tells. First of all, there is Adam Smith’s request that all his papers be burned after his death. Everything. And this was done. Why such a request? Was Smith hiding something? It turns out he was: something that has remained hidden from many admirers of Smith, including Gopnik.
Marvin T. Brown, Ph.D teaches business and organizational ethics at the University of San Francisco and Saybrook University in San Francisco.
This book is the culmination of 30 years of teaching and writing on business and society from a communicative perspective. Visit workingethics.com for more information.
Adam Smith American Dream Atlantic trade banks biosphere citizen Citizens United civic civic conversations civic economy Civicism civic membership civilizing the economy civil war Commons corporate citizen corporations democracy disagreement economics of property economics of provision Egypt health care reform human dignity invisible hand John Locke libertarianism Libya living wage membership money moral equality ownership property property rights protection Scotland slavery Smith and slavery Smithian economics sports sustainability system of provision taxes tobacco trade