COMMUNITARIANISM ADVANTAGES 73
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
COMMUNITARIANISM REQUIRES RESPONSIBILITY FOR HARMFUL SOCIAL EXTERNALITIES LIKE A DEGRADED ENVIRONMENT
PHILIP SELZNICK, professor emeritus of law and sociology at the School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, 1996; Social Justice: A Communitarian Perspective, The Responsive Community, Volume 6, Issue 4, Fall 1996,
http://www.gwu.edu/~icps/selznick.html // acs-EE2001Controlling Externalities. To take community seriously is to take responsibility for the consequences of what we are and do. This was a central theme in John Dewey’s communitarian liberalism. In more current jargon, we are responsible for the "externalities" we produce when we engage in autonomous and self-regarding conduct. Negative externalities are the costs we impose on the community, such as a degraded environment, or the health care needed because of personal recklessness or negligence. We are also responsible for producing positive externalities, that is, for contributing to good outcomes. The communitarian movement should be in the forefront of efforts to encourage concern for externalities, on the part of corporations as well as individuals. This is not a rejection of autonomy, or of self-interest. On the contrary, those values are presumed. The question is how they are put into practice.
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COMMUNITARISM DEMANDS CAREFUL STEWARDSHIP AS OPPOSED TO RAMPANT EXPLOITATION OF RESOURCES
PHILIP SELZNICK, professor emeritus of law and sociology at the School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, 1996; Social Justice: A Communitarian Perspective, The Responsive Community, Volume 6, Issue 4, Fall 1996,
http://www.gwu.edu/~icps/selznick.html // acs-EE2001Stewardship is most familiar to us in demands for environmental protection. Environmentalists have fought hard to substitute an ideal of stewardship for the unbridled exploitation of nature. Whereas "exploitation of resources" once had a positive ring, as a call to progress, today we are more ready to accept a moral bond between humanity and nature. This bond, and the stewardship it creates, serves the interests of future generations. It is, therefore, a vital aspect of social justice.
COMMUNITARIANISM WILL DEMAND CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
PHILIP SELZNICK, professor emeritus of law and sociology at the School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, 1996; Social Justice: A Communitarian Perspective, The Responsive Community, Volume 6, Issue 4, Fall 1996,
http://www.gwu.edu/~icps/selznick.html // acs-EE2001The principle of stewardship is at the heart of recurrent calls for corporate responsibility. Are corporate leaders responsible for the well-being of an enterprise, or only for the gains of shareholders? Do they have multiple responsibilities or only a single concern? Does profitability require maximizing returns on investment, especially short-term returns? The virtues of a market economy are plain enough, but they do not justify a flight from responsible conduct. The interests of employees, customers, communities, and other stakeholders, as well as the long-run prosperity of the enterprise, must be faithfully and responsibly considered. This calls for an expanded conception of fiduciary responsibility–an ethos of stewardship.