Civil Society and Public Relations: Not So Civil After All

“My Country’s Future”: A Culture-Centered Interrogation of Corporate Social Responsibility in India

“…The economic is not a discrete realm, but inherently linked to the political organization and social history of a people, negotiated and manifested through the interplay of structure, culture, and agency. Neoliberalism as a discursive trope operates through complex and dynamic (re)combinations, such that it privileges certain forms of knowledge over others (i.e., quantitative and predictive models outweigh lived experience and traditional subaltern knowledge; Tuhiwai Smith 1999), values particular resources (e.g., commodities traded on international markets or those hoarded by powerful First World States, rather than those treasured by indigenous communities; Spivak 1987), de-legitimizes indigenous paradigms of valuation (e.g., communal and ancestral links with one's land is dismissed in favor of property rights; Breen 2007), and idealizes Western modes of liberal democracy, contracts and civil society instead of alternative community systems (Dutta-Bergman 2005;Iyer 2008).…”

“…Given the frequent invocation of Gandhian ethics in mainstream CSR discourse (Kumar 2004;Kumar et al 2001;Lala 2007;Mehta et al 2006;NASSCOM Foundation 2007), I examine here how subaltern voices may re-claim them. 4 Although prevalent CSR norms in India usually equate personality-driven philanthropy with Gandhian ethics, CCA allows activists and scholars to probe and utilize masked themes of Gandhian philosophy as a suitable cultural frame for subaltern organizing (Dutta-Bergman 2005). Bose (1971) argues that, far from being static and unalloyed, Gandhian ethics demand a dynamic interpretation, whereby communities and corporations give of themselves both on account of religious principles and realization of individual-system interconnections.…”

“…In the case of the Dongria-Kondh, a strong social network of digital activists and scholars was actively mobilized to spread the tribals' message to a wider national and global public. Similarly, Dutta-Bergman (2005) highlights how Gandhian systems of village structure might be engaged with as an alternative to dominant (Western) notions of ''civil society'' that are closely linked to the aims of transnational capital, rather than subaltern communities. These examples highlight a reframed meaning of the term ''trusteeship,'' often used in mainstream CSR discourse; Hardiman (2003) quotes Gandhi,…”

“…For instance, in the aftermath of the Bhopal leak, when Union Carbide was successfully able to navigate the Indian legal system to escape relatively unscathed, a sustained campaign spearheaded by aggrieved communities and the media sought to pressure the India State to re-cast its structural frameworks. Through case studies in Nicaragua, Chile, and the Philippines, Dutta-Bergman (2005) has shown how local and global elites use the rhetoric of ''democracy'' and ''free market'' to progressively shut out subaltern voices from the artificially constructed ''civil society,'' which operates essentially as a neocolonial tool to garner resources and stifle dissent. In the Bhopal case, the strong grassroots movement forced the Indian State to change its tone vis-à-vis the company, pressing for a larger settlement and strengthening environmental regulation (see www.bhopal.net).…”

“…Ganesh (2007) argues that the global CSR discourse, focused on technological certification, sustainability, and Protestant work ethics, is a tool for neo-colonial dominance, impressing upon developing nations the parochial capital-intensive modernization paradigm of development. Moreover, while NGOs are often feted as ''objective'' partners in CSR, with the best interests of subaltern communities in mind, their role in perpetuating ''civil society'' frameworks and ''dialogue'' must be interrogated, since so much of their funding depends on corporate and State funds (Dutta-Bergman 2005). Stohl et al's (2009) call for a ''third generation'' of corporate codes of ethics thus focuses on communal (not just individual) rights, dismantling rigid national/organizational boundaries, and emphasizes social interconnections the world over.…”