CSR in Times of Neoliberal Hegemony

For decades technological and economic progress under the capitalist model has placed social norms and the natural environment under great pressure, imposing a particularly heavy burden on the poor and underprivileged. Recognising the role of corporations in these developments, the emergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been hailed as the metaphorical beacon of light to tackle the dark side of capitalism. Despite high expectations, corporate integration of socially responsible norms and practices has been slow and partial, limited to a small number of corporate leaders. Many commentators have voiced the need for harder forms of law to enforce CSR norms, but there has been little political interest to answer this call. The traditional academic response to the sluggish embrace of CSR has been to simply re-emphasise the need for hard law as a prerequisite to accelerate change, but this approach has had little success. This thesis expands the debate and discusses why the emergence of hard law to tackle pressing social and environmental issues has remained hidden within the hopeful mind of a vocal civil society and the writings of academics. By examining the broader context within which CSR has developed, this paper identifies neoliberalism, the dominant free-market oriented socio-political theory of our time, as an overlooked factor undermining the success of CSR. Free markets, as conceptualised by neoliberalism, have resulted in a close-minded discussion of regulatory options and an overemphasis on the business case of CSR. This has precluded the legal inclusion of strict social and environmental standards in corporate activities and dimmed the potential of corporate social responsibility