title: Corporate social responsibility and conflicts of interest in the alcohol and gambling industries: a post-political discourse?
abstract: The corporate pursuit of social goals - known as Corporate Social Responsibility or 'CSR' - has been subject to critique on a number of grounds. However, a hitherto underexplored potential consequence of CSR has been suggested in a recent paper by C. Garsten and K. Jacobsson ('Post-Political Regulation: Soft Power and Post-political Visions in Global Governance' (2013), Critical Sociology 39: 421-37). They suggest that CSR is part of an international trend towards 'post-political' governance discourses, where an emphasis on different actors' common goals obscures conflicts of interest, subverting the open political conflict necessary for a well-functioning democracy. This paper examines whether such post-political discourses - including an outright denial of conflict of interest - can be found within the alcohol and gambling industries, where conflicts of interest are likely to be particularly acute given the addictive nature of the goods/services in question. Based on interviews with CSR professionals in these industries in Italy, the UK, and at EU-level, we do indeed find evidence of a post-political discourse. In these discourses, alcohol/gambling industry staff deny potential conflicts of interest on the basis that any small benefits from sales to a small number of addicts are seen to be outweighed by the reputational damage that addicts cause. Crucially, however, this coexists with another, less post-political discourse, where addictions CSR professionals emphasize 'common ground' as a basis for CSR, while accepting some instances of possible conflict of interest. Here interviewees make considerable efforts to differentiate good (sustainable) from bad (short-term) self-interest in order to stress the genuineness of their own actions. We conclude the paper by considering whether CSR embedded within a 'common ground' discourse still hides conflicts of interests and subverts democratic debate, or overcomes the problems identified by Garsten and Jacobsson.
authors.affiliation: University of Kent.
authors.forename: Ben Baumberg
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Geiger
authors.affiliation: Università degli Studi di Cagliari.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cuzzocrea
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D003132:Commerce; D016265:Conflict of Interest; D005060:Europe; D005715:Gambling; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry / Q000458:organization & administration; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011057:Politics; D017149:Private Sector / Q000458:organization & administration; D011634:Public Health; D011640:Public Policy; D012941:Social Responsibility; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: CSR; Conflict of interest; alcohol; gambling; post-political governance