In the new edition of his textbook, Markets, Ethics, and Business Ethics, author Steven Scalet, professor of philosophy at The University of Baltimore and director of its Hoffberger Center for Ethical Engagement, takes an interdisciplinary approach to philosophy, politics and economics as a way to understand where business, and business ethics, are headed in both the short and long term.
The book, according to its publisher, Routledge, "introduces a study of ethics and values to develop a deeper understanding of markets, business, and economic life. Its distinctive features include a thorough integration of personal and institutional perspectives; applied ethics and political philosophy; and philosophy, business, and economics."
These complicated, interwoven concepts are given new clarity through the author's use of a structure that allows for close examination of important topics like corporate governance, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the development of copyrights and patents, social media and business, and the evolution of personal meaning in work.
Dr. Scalet, an award-winning educator and the author of several articles as well as the editor of Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy, says he is interested in the ways that a constantly-changing technology like AI is influencing well-established business processes like copyright. A recent report from the U.S. Copyright Office, "Identifying the Economic Implications of Artificial Intelligence for Copyright Policy," includes this statement: "The ultimate economic policy objective behind copyright is to enhance long-run social welfare by enabling the consumption of knowledge and creative works and facilitating scientific and cultural innovation."
"This statement is revealing and commits to a guiding normative framework that underscores the importance of a study of ethics in relation to fundamental policy decision-making," Scalet says. "In Markets, Ethics and Business Ethics, I examine the ethical underpinnings and conceptual commitments of a 'social welfare' framework and contrast that approach against other ethical frameworks that can guide personal, economic, and social policy-making. It can be helpful and vital for our students and our political discourse to recognize and understand these remarkable ethical frameworks, both their contrasts and points of convergence. They guide and illuminate how we live—and how we live together. Their underlying values ground decision-making and shape how leaders impact the world."
Learn more about Prof. Scalet's new book, Markets, Ethics, and Business Ethics.
Learn more about Prof. Steven P. Scalet and the Hoffberger Center for Ethical Engagement.
The following is a Q&A with Dr. Scalet marking the occasion of the publishing of his
new book:
Question: It seems clear that concepts like corporate responsibility and business
ethics are changing. The traditional view of "good corporate citizenship" is not what
it was—not diminished, necessarily, but certainly different. How do you see this shift,
and what more are we likely to see in the next 5-10 years?
Scalet: At least since the seminal contribution by Berle and Means on the purpose of corporations in the 1930s, norms have shifted back and forth between views of corporations in terms of broad social purposes and in more narrow terms of economic value and profits. I believe that after a decade or two of shifts toward a broader mandate, corporations are moving back toward a more narrow understanding of their role in society. We'll see how long that shift continues.
Is it wise for the business world to engage in a strategy of retrenchment when it comes to ethics, governance, and so on? What are the risks and rewards of these efforts?
Scalet: Ethics and governance will always be an important factor in the corporate world apart from the shifting landscape of social objectives in business. For example, all parties to debates about social objectives agree that it matters that CEOs and managers understand and carry out their ethical responsibilities—they disagree about the content and rationale for these responsibilities.
It's hard to argue against the idea that businesses, large and small, regardless of where they are in the marketplace, are driven by earnings. Right now, we're seeing a heightening of public interest in the use of boycotts, "buy-nothing" days and the like as a prompt for corporate behavior. Do you agree that prioritizing business ethics, across many sectors of the economy, is a better way to establish, and maintain, good business ethics? Why or why not?
Scalet: Boycotts and other efforts at consumer pressure remind corporations that at least some people don't leave their values at home when they engage in consumer decision-making. This pressure creates incentives for corporations to enact a strategy in response, and in recent years, I believe we are seeing the strategies shift. In a working paper, a colleague and I argue for a vision of the business world that allows for experiments in the best ways to implement competing visions of corporate purpose.