Abstract
Comparative judgements related to economic systems (along with pending political ideologies) represent a subject of investigation that, at first glance, appertains to the “ABC” of social sciences, although the “literacy” of policy-makers, business officials, or public opinion reveals surprising understanding flaws. The academic environment – where there is a tacit consensus on the interdisciplinary character of such an approach, on the perpetual relevance within the various (sub)disciplines, and on the somewhat exhaustion of the subordinated debates – remains subtly divided on a series of theoretical delimitations or historical evidence. This article aims to highlight a (sub)domain of the comparative analysis regarding the economic systems in which the literature is not as polarized as it is rarefied: what roots and reverberations does “social responsibility” have within the main economic systems and where and how its “ecological sustainability” component manifests itself? The present research targets to critically and originally review, in a “bioeconomic” key, the way in which social responsibility underlying sustainability is perceived, penetrated and practiced within pure liberal capitalism / market economy, canonical socialism / command economy, and real-world interventionism / mixed economy, offering both a priori insights and empirical illustrations.
Highlights
The comparative study of economic systems is more than an attribute of an exclusivist cast of specialists in economic theory and more than an apanage of practitioners in the area of public authority or private business: we are talking about an exercise of civic culture
The third part proposes as case study the corporate social responsibility (CSR) codes of key-companies listed on the Romanian stock exchange, identifying these codes as hybrid instruments of authentic volunteerism and legal coercion, a “mix” that rather weakens their social viability
The authors’ analysis highlights, at least at the level of the national economy, for the industries covered by the study, that the operationalization of the social responsibility concept becomes more visible for companies in the Extractive industry, the Processing industry – fabrication of basic and ordinary pharmaceuticals, and the Production and supply of electricity, heat, gas, hot water, and air conditioning, even if sometimes the activities catalogued by some of the analysed companies as activities in the area of social responsibility are purely philanthropic
Summary
The comparative study of economic systems is more than an attribute of an exclusivist cast of specialists in economic theory and more than an apanage of practitioners in the area of public authority or private business: we are talking about an exercise of civic culture. This is necessary to any individual who wishes to decipher the ways and “whys” in his country/jurisdiction – as in or in contrast to others – specific questions are being answered, questions that concern the soci(et)al coordination of activities regarding production and consumption of goods and services. The third part proposes as case study the corporate social responsibility (CSR) codes of key-companies listed on the Romanian stock exchange, identifying these codes as hybrid instruments of authentic volunteerism and legal coercion, a “mix” that rather weakens their social viability
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