Business Ethics and Racial Justice: A Critical Perspective

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Degree type
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Graduate group
Ethics and Legal Studies
Discipline
Philosophy
African Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Management Sciences
Subject
Business Ethics
Corporate Social Responsibility
Critical Race Theory
Philosophy
Racial Justice
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2023
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Author
Mustafa, Tabitha, Celeste
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Abstract

Race impacts nearly every aspect of modern society; business is no exception. This dissertation first sets about to argue that business firms have a moral duty to offer reparations to Black Americans for anti-Blackness. My research suggests that race-neutral approaches to theory offer insufficient resources to make appropriate moral prescriptions because racial capitalism is a pillar of the global socioeconomic order. One reason for reliance on race-neutral approaches, I argue, relates to the absence of race in business ethics scholarship and a lack of diversity among the discipline’s scholars. I introduce empirical data to demonstrate the absence of race. Next, I turn to demonstrate that race-neutral approaches lack the necessary resources to effectively correct the injustices of the past and secure an equitable future. A critical analysis of a classic piece of business ethics scholarship by Norman E. Bowie provides further impetus for the worry that troubling implications may follow from principles derived from the traditional liberal philosophical approach to business ethics. At a high level, this dissertation provides a vision of what is possible while using a critical race framework and cautions against what can happen without the appropriate methodological tools. In this way, the first chapter proposes an example of what a critical approach to business ethics can offer in terms of corrective racial justice to Black Americans by utilizing an approach akin to a tort law framework—reparations. The second chapter implores using a critical race lens in business ethics and offers a racial justice framework to support its application in the field. The third chapter rejects race-neutral approaches to business ethics in favor of critical race aims and methodology that can consistently yield substantive social justice for racially oppressed groups.

Advisor
Allen, Anita, L
Date of degree
2023
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