The Annual of the Society of Economic Sociology
Online ISSN : 2189-7328
Print ISSN : 0918-3116
Semi-Symposium Articles (Refereed)
The Possibility of Public Interest Capitalism
Masahide Ohno
Author information
JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2021 Volume 43 Pages 45-56

Details
Abstract

In the United States and Europe, there is a growing movement toward stakeholder capitalism, which holds that companies should pay attention to the interests of various stakeholders. In Japan, the concept of “Public interest capitalism” is used for almost the same purpose. The common thread is the idea that corporations should play an active role in resolving various social issues, rather than just prioritizing their own interests and those of their shareholders. Such movements are emerging simultaneously in many areas of society, such as the SDGs, corporate social responsibility, ESG investment, and CSV. While such discussions are underway in the fields of business administration and public philosophy, they are not always properly handled in the framework of economics. I see this as a limitation of the “methodological individualism” underlying economics, and advocate an approach from a communitarian standpoint.

Content from these authors
© 2021 The Society of Economic Sociology
Previous article Next article
feedback
Top