The Anthropology of Corporate Social Responsibility

The Anthropology of Corporate Social Responsibility explores the meanings, practices, and impact of corporate social and environmental responsibility across a range of transnational corporations and geographical locations (Bangladesh, Cameroon, Chile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, India, Peru, South Africa, the UK, and the USA). The contributors examine the expectations, frictions and contradictions the CSR movement is generating and addressing key issues such as the introduction of new forms of management, control, and discipline through ethical and environmental governance or the extent to which corporate responsibility challenges existing patterns of inequality rather than generating new geographies of inclusion and exclusion.

Dinah Rajak is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology and International Development at the University of Sussex. She is the author of In Good Company. An Anatomy of Corporate Social Responsibility (Stanford University Press 2011) and the co-founder of the Centre for New Economies of Development (www.responsiblebop.com).