The Individual in Business Ethics An American Cultural Perspective [Paperback]

Today we are witnessing social and political dominance of large corporations. They provide for its employees moral values and business principles. Moreover, they institutionalize their codes of ethics. The theory of Business Ethics provides the moral guideline and standards for corporate life and concrete business organizations apply those standards to practice. The individual employee, as a member of a business organization, accepts those standards. Therefore, it is important to examine the foundation of the individual's moral value in Business Ethics in order to understand on what the foundation of the moral value depends on.This highly interdisciplinary text is a critique of Business Ethics as an ideology and life politics. The author discloses how contemporary business ethics grovels before corporations, how it is too weak to create a truly critical voice of American capitalist economy. The individual's treatment in corporate life is revealed through the eyes of American Protestant culture and its coercive work tradition where efficiency value usurps values of individual choice and freedom. This book suggests a new concept of an out-corporate individual.INTRODUCTION PART I :THE EVOLVEMENT OF BUSINESS ETHICS History of Business Ethics Cultural and Political Reasons for the Evolvement of Business Ethics History of Ideas of Protestantism and Business Ethics The Breakaway of Business Ethics from Classical Ethics Aristotle's Virtue Ethics and Business Ethics Deontological Ethics and Business Ethics Utilitarian Ethics and Business Ethics Utilitarian Perspective of Corporate Social Responsibility Utilitarian Perspective of Human Resource Management and Stakeholder Theory Institutionalization of a Code of Ethics and the Politics of the Protestant Work Ethic PART II: THE INDIVIDUAL'S MORAL VALUE IN BUSINESS ETHICS Life Politics and Ideology Life Politics from Anthony Giddens' Perspective Ideology from Louis Dumont's Perspective Corporate Life Politics and Ideology: CorpolSÊ