Forms of Irresponsibility

Abstract

Freedom and justice are regarded as by-products of the American way of life. This erroneous viewpoint is nourished by corporations, and it leads to irresponsibility. There is no adequate theory of the corporation or compre hension of the economic order, and the intellectuals are cul pable. Irresponsibility assumes many forms. The seductions of public relations and advertising serve unethical ends. Dis trust of government is encouraged by the corporation, which at the same time plays a clumsy and backward political role. The steady advance of technological unemployment is dismissed by managers as someone else's responsibility. For-profit enter prises are ill-suited to development of the emerging nations, partly because of earlier histories of irresponsibility. The de pendence of the economic order on the cold war is seldom criti cized by managers, who display no enthusiasm for disarmament or peace. Corporate life is seen as a species of neofeudalism which results in passivity and political nonparticipation. The essential problem is discovering a theory of economic order and purpose, and a theory of corporate responsibility adequate to the acceleration of contemporary technological society.