The Financial Sector and the Recession: Discourses on Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

The financial crisis has brought about dramatic consequences for economies and societies. Questions emerge about responsibility for the crisis, the obligations to compensate for the costs of the recession and the nature of responsibility for future market regulation and social welfare in future national and global governance. In so doing, they debate corporate social responsibility (CSR). This paper explores how UK media defines i) the financial sector’s CSR in the context of the financial crisis and recession, and ii) the motivation and means of the sector and other actors to respond to these. Four discourses emerge from our analysis providing insights into distinct types of CSR, attitudinal change and expectations of the change required to ensure a more responsible financial sector. Findings reveal tension in the discourses concerning the sector’s ability to ‘heal itself’. Questions of accountability and of the capacity and reliability of CSR are common to all discourses. The discourses identified provide clear insights into diagnoses and prescriptions for the state of responsibility in the financial sector.