Definitions of social responsibility
To kick off Day 2 of the Global Summit, Soren Kaplan of iCohere shared some reports on what other (non-DC) sites discussed yesterday. Interestingly, both the Shanghai and Brussels sites had discussions about the definition of social responsibility. According to Soren, the Shanghai attendees wondered if China did or should have its own definition of social responsibility, while the Brussels attendees discussed the definition of social responsibility in the European Union vs. that in other parts of the world, wondering if social responsibility was more culturally encoded in the EU than in other places.
There's an interesting discussion beginning in the comments on a recent Acronym post about what the definition of social responsibility really is. Clearly it's a big-tent kind of word--and I'd guess that some definitions of the term would be really unpalatable to certain associations, while a different definition might be something they could more readily embrace.
How do you (or your association) define social responsibility? Should the term be strictly defined, to avoid watering the concept down, or should it be broad, to bring in more people?
| | Permalink |
Comments
As soon as we strictly define the word something gets left out. When you read our constitution - and in fact most - you see broadly defined rights and words that have been debated and defined and redefined over time .. and that's what keeps these documents alive.
After spending three days immersed in this conversation, I struggled to share what the event with my colleagues, my partner, friends and family. Part of the struggle is in defining what we mean. For me social responsibility is much more than the environment, more than going green and reducing carbon footprints. It's about people with developmental disabilities enjoying inclusive lives, its about equal education for all, its about health care for the families and individuals who don't get it at work, its about the religious freedom. What I'm glad about after the 3 days, is that the group had so many people with different passions and priorities and we could find like-minded people with whom we can explore solutions, innovations, and a different future.
Posted by: Peggy Hoffman | May 5, 2008 8:49 AM