Abstract
AbstractWhile communication of business ethics has increased in importance, it is often understood as being more of immaterial than material value. However, recent studies have demonstrated that language and communication can have important social consequences, changing institutional logics and daily practices in economic fields. This conceptual paper explores how sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice can help us understand how market morality as a discursive practice for value formation is subject not only to linguistic exchange but also market positioning and economic value. The paper offers an inter-disciplinary view of business ethics in combination with socio-linguistics, contributing with propositions for how moral language serves as a currency for business ethics, providing implications for future studies of business ethics as a socio-economic practice.
Highlights
Business ethics as a social practice has for several decades been explored in organisational and management studies (Clegg et al 2007; Kjonstad and Willmott 1995; Jackall 1988)
This is followed by debating sections, crossing socio-linguistic issues, and market morality topics associated to business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) development, sheltered by Bourdieu’s theoretical umbrella
Is needed for producing value on markets for business ethics? What linguistic products can we find on these markets? Is there, in terms of Bourdieu’s economics of linguistic exchanges, multilanguism, dominant languages, or dominated languages, and if so, which are they? More importantly, it is less relevant to understand the many meanings of certain communication, and instead understand which meaning rules in this context
Summary
Business ethics as a social practice has for several decades been explored in organisational and management studies (Clegg et al 2007; Kjonstad and Willmott 1995; Jackall 1988). The current paper summarises key concepts in Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology of fields and markets, with a specific focus on the theory of practice and language as social practice This is followed by debating sections, crossing socio-linguistic issues, and market morality topics associated to business ethics and CSR development, sheltered by Bourdieu’s theoretical umbrella. As institutionalized capital in the form of titles and diplomas; (3) social capital taking its form as social relationships and memberships of groups; and (4) symbolic capital being any form of capital as long as it is understood as being part of the categories of perception, principles of vision and division, classification systems, and cognitive systems, incorporating the structure of the considered field, recognised and legitimate forms of capital (Bourdieu 1979, 1992, 1993, 1997; Chanlat 2014; Zeroual 2017) All fields have these different types of capital in different combinations and are distributed in an uneven manner, defining the position of the agents in the particular field (Golsorkhi and Huault 2006). In his theory of practice, Bourdieu explains how the three concepts of field, capital, and habitus are interlinked with each other and are central for making a systematic effort to move beyond dualities such as the individual versus society, action versus structure, and, more importantly, subjectivism versus objectivism (Thompson 1991)
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