Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social practice, this article \ndevelops a novel approach to the study of corporate social \nresponsibility (CSR). According to this approach, pro-social activities \nare conceptualized as social practices that individual managers employ \nin their efforts to attain social power. Whether such practices are \nenacted or not depends on (1) the particular features of the social \nfield; (2) the individual managers’ socially shaped dispositions and (3)\n their stock of different forms of capital. By combining these \ntheoretical concepts, the Bourdieusian approach we develop highlights \nthe interplay between the economic and non-economic motivations that \nunderlie CSR, acknowledging influences both on the micro- and the \nmacro-level, as well as deterministic and voluntaristic aspects of human\n behaviour.
Published Paper, 2013
Organization, 20(3)
Page(s): 349-371
Abstract