Corporate Speech and Civic Virtue

Abstract

The Supreme Court in Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce upheld the application to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit corporation funded by dues from members, three-quarters of whom are business corporations, of a Michigan law that forbids non-media corporations from using corporate treasury funds to make independent expenditures in connection with state elections for public office. The decision in Austin can be seen as resting on the view that business corporations are constrained in ways that systematically preclude them from cultivating civic virtue. Ironically, despite its often enormous wealth, the corporation is a paradigm of the materially dependent actor that has no choice but to look relentlessly to its self-interest. The modern corporation is operated for the sake of fictional shareholders, who are assumed to care only about maximizing the financial value of their shares, but, given the increasingly broad ownership of shares, shareholders also may well be employees of the company in which they hold stock or members of a community in which the corporation is an important economic presence. Union activity represents an effort at self-governance in the workplace, which requires consideration of and trade-offs among a variety of both material and nonmaterial goods.

Is corporate social responsibility pursuing pristine business goals for sustainable development?

“…Blowfield () argues that CSR has failed to adequately align the interests of business with those of the poor. Regan () observes that corporations will not usually take the socially responsible course of action unless it meets their profitability criteria. Under the circumstances, Crook (, p. 4) describes the condition of CSR as ‘CSR is little more than a cosmetic treatment.…”

Corporate Social Responsibility: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

“…The state is a key player at the macro and meso levels and while some theorists believe that the power of the state has greatly diminished in an era of global neoliberalism (Boggs 1986;Regan 1998;Rifkin 1999), others argue that state power in recent years has been redistributed to be "more tightly connected to the needs and interests of corporations and less so to the public interest" (Bakan 2004: 154). For instance, the distinction between global, national and corporate interests becomes particularly important in the way these disputes are resolved in the World Trade Organization.…”

Corporate Politics, Governance, and Value Before and After Citizens United

“…See also Fisch () (case study of political activity by Fedex); Coates and Lincoln () (study of disclosure policies voluntarily adopted by S&P 500 firms and a positive correlation between those firms and corporate value); IRRC () (same); Regan () (essay on corporate speech and civic virtue); Winkler () (legal analysis of corporations under the First Amendment); and Winkler () (history of ban on corporate donations to federal elections).…”