Discourse on the social responsibility of the firm in Finland, 1930-1940 and 1972-1982: Theoretical framework and empirical findings

The purpose of this study is to examine the concept of the social responsibility of the firm and changes in market ideologies in Finland during the two decades 1930-1940 and 1972-1982. The study covers the following points. Firstly, to examine the fundamental principles of social responsibility and its role as the moral basis of a firm's social responsibility. Secondly, to investigate the attitudes, opinions and standpoints of the business world as presented in Finnish employer journals during the 1930s and 1970s; the method used is text interpretation. On this basis three ideologies of the firm's social responsibility can be constructed: the traditional, the modern and the moral. The point of interest is to see whether any changes connected with the time dimension can be identified in the factual content of the ideologies. In this study a new instrument has been applied to the study of business ideologies, namely a rhetorical analysis (based on the works of Aristotle) of the selected texts. The discourse produced by the business world is seen as a tool for legitimating the conduct of business firms. The aim of the analysis is to reveal different forms of "business ideological talk" to try to find out if there is some kind of rhetorical "clue" in the texts and whether there have been any changes over the years. Finally, some suggestions for further research are presented.