Concepts of social responsibility of business: the initial ideas and classifications

Abstract

The core question of the article is the social responsibility of business. There is quite a long-drawn-out ongoing discussion among the scientific community about nature and essence of the phenomenon. In this perspective, the absence of a common scientific interpretation seems to arise because of a number of issues that appear during analysis of social responsibility of business. Western scientists started their investigations in this sphere in the 1950s. It was connected with TNCs’ activity that caused some social and ecological problems. In Russia the interest in the social responsibility of business emerged only in in the 2000s. A great number of political, economical and social reasons could explain that. Plenty of studies reveal that the increase in social responsibility of Russian business runs in line with global trends: a positive attitude about socially responsible companies is gradually prompting scientific debates about a common approach for analyzing the kernel and “boundaries” of social responsibility. The article explores the category of social responsibility and business’ unique essence as a subject of social responsibility. The authors present an evolution of the concept of social responsibility of business and its fundamental modern approaches. Refs 25.