Chapter 5 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Questions And
Correct Answers (Verified Answers) 2026
What is CSR? Corporate Social Responsibility - CORRECT ANSWER -- The duty of a
corporation to create wealth in ways that avoid harm to, protect, or enhance societal assets.
Explain the inception, issues, the reasoning, the political ideology - CORRECT ANSWER -
Reasoning - The overall performance of a firm must benefit society.
Political Ideology - Its central purposes is to control and legitimize the exercise of corporate
power. As an ideology it is a worldview of how a corporate should act.
The fundamental idea is that corporations have duties that go beyond lawful execution of their
economic function. Here is the reasoning. The overall performance of a firm must benefit
society.
Know the beliefs of CSR's advocates. - CORRECT ANSWER -- It's an ethical duty to promote
social justice.
- Social responsibility is practical, it has concrete beliefs. Motivates employees and creates loyal
customers.
- Necessary because other forces do not force responsibility in corporations, particularly
multinational corporations that operate across borders in a global arena of weak governance
Know the beliefs of CSR's opponents. - CORRECT ANSWER -- The opponents are found
toward the left and right edges of the political spectrum.
- Far left is seen as radical progressives as an insufficient doctrine, one that substitutes only
poorly for tougher laws and regulations, allowing corporations to form a smoke screen of virtue
behind which their "Inviolable Core" or profit seeking behavior is untouched.
- Far right is seen as a pernicious doctrine, draining and enervating the strength of the corporate
institution. Conservative economists see it as an inwarranted cost. It creates.
Know what conservatives think about CSR. - CORRECT ANSWER -- Conservative economists
see it as an unwarranted cost. It creates administrative expenses, distracts executives, confuses
economic goals with other goals, and subtracts from social welfare when the corporation is less
efficient. Conservatives see capitalism as a neutral, venerable, practical, and beneficent
institution that has developed over centuries and led to rising global prosperity. They dislike
CSR for thwarting natural market dynamics.
Explain the acceptance of CSR. - CORRECT ANSWER -- More moderate progressives are
willing to work with responsible corporations, and corporate managers occupy a middle ground.
, Most now accept the idea as a practical necessity even as they often harbor doctrinal
reservations.
How does CSR relate to Classic Economic Theory - CORRECT ANSWER -- A business is
socially responsible if it maximizes profits while operating within the law, because an "invisible
hand" will direct economic activity to serve the good of the whole
Explain the early charitable impulse of social responsibility - CORRECT ANSWER -- Charity
was coexisting virtue, and business owners sought respectability by giving to churches,
orphanages, and poorhouses.
How did this social responsibility evolve, from colonial, to early 19thcentury. - CORRECT
ANSWER -- Mostly, the new millionaires endowed social causes as individuals not through the
companies that were the fountainheads of their wealth
Be able to explain the relationship between social Darwinism and charity as believed by
capitalists and philosophers of that time. - CORRECT ANSWER -- Social Darwinism , which
held that charity interfered with the natural evolutionary process in which society shed its less fit
to make way for the better adapted.
- Big fortunes should be used for grand purposes such as endowing universities and building
concert halls such as Carnegie Hall. They should not be wasted by paying higher wages to
workers or giving gifts to poor people; that would dissipate riches on small indulgences and
would not, in the end, elevate the culture of a society.
- Spencer approved of some charity, though only when it raised the character and superiority of
the giver.
Explain Social Responsibility in the late 19thand early twentieth centuries - CORRECT
ANSWER -- By the late 1800's it was a growing apparent to the business elite that prevailing
doctrines used to legitimize business defined its responsibilities too narrowly. Industrialization
had fostered social problems and political corruption. Farmers were in revolt. Labor was
increasingly violent. Socialism was at high tide. Average Americans began to question unfettered
laissez- faire economics and the doctrine of social Darwinism.
What were the three interrelated themes of broader responsibility that emerged during the
Progressive era? - CORRECT ANSWER -1. Managers were Trustees, agents whose corporate
roles put them in positions of power over the fate of not just stockholders but also of others such
as workers, customers, and communities.
2. Managers had an obligation tobalancethese multiple interest. They were in effect,
coordinators who settled competing claims.
3. Many managers subscribed to the Service Principle a near spiritual belief that individuals
managers served society by making each business successful; if they all prospered, the aggregate
Correct Answers (Verified Answers) 2026
What is CSR? Corporate Social Responsibility - CORRECT ANSWER -- The duty of a
corporation to create wealth in ways that avoid harm to, protect, or enhance societal assets.
Explain the inception, issues, the reasoning, the political ideology - CORRECT ANSWER -
Reasoning - The overall performance of a firm must benefit society.
Political Ideology - Its central purposes is to control and legitimize the exercise of corporate
power. As an ideology it is a worldview of how a corporate should act.
The fundamental idea is that corporations have duties that go beyond lawful execution of their
economic function. Here is the reasoning. The overall performance of a firm must benefit
society.
Know the beliefs of CSR's advocates. - CORRECT ANSWER -- It's an ethical duty to promote
social justice.
- Social responsibility is practical, it has concrete beliefs. Motivates employees and creates loyal
customers.
- Necessary because other forces do not force responsibility in corporations, particularly
multinational corporations that operate across borders in a global arena of weak governance
Know the beliefs of CSR's opponents. - CORRECT ANSWER -- The opponents are found
toward the left and right edges of the political spectrum.
- Far left is seen as radical progressives as an insufficient doctrine, one that substitutes only
poorly for tougher laws and regulations, allowing corporations to form a smoke screen of virtue
behind which their "Inviolable Core" or profit seeking behavior is untouched.
- Far right is seen as a pernicious doctrine, draining and enervating the strength of the corporate
institution. Conservative economists see it as an inwarranted cost. It creates.
Know what conservatives think about CSR. - CORRECT ANSWER -- Conservative economists
see it as an unwarranted cost. It creates administrative expenses, distracts executives, confuses
economic goals with other goals, and subtracts from social welfare when the corporation is less
efficient. Conservatives see capitalism as a neutral, venerable, practical, and beneficent
institution that has developed over centuries and led to rising global prosperity. They dislike
CSR for thwarting natural market dynamics.
Explain the acceptance of CSR. - CORRECT ANSWER -- More moderate progressives are
willing to work with responsible corporations, and corporate managers occupy a middle ground.
, Most now accept the idea as a practical necessity even as they often harbor doctrinal
reservations.
How does CSR relate to Classic Economic Theory - CORRECT ANSWER -- A business is
socially responsible if it maximizes profits while operating within the law, because an "invisible
hand" will direct economic activity to serve the good of the whole
Explain the early charitable impulse of social responsibility - CORRECT ANSWER -- Charity
was coexisting virtue, and business owners sought respectability by giving to churches,
orphanages, and poorhouses.
How did this social responsibility evolve, from colonial, to early 19thcentury. - CORRECT
ANSWER -- Mostly, the new millionaires endowed social causes as individuals not through the
companies that were the fountainheads of their wealth
Be able to explain the relationship between social Darwinism and charity as believed by
capitalists and philosophers of that time. - CORRECT ANSWER -- Social Darwinism , which
held that charity interfered with the natural evolutionary process in which society shed its less fit
to make way for the better adapted.
- Big fortunes should be used for grand purposes such as endowing universities and building
concert halls such as Carnegie Hall. They should not be wasted by paying higher wages to
workers or giving gifts to poor people; that would dissipate riches on small indulgences and
would not, in the end, elevate the culture of a society.
- Spencer approved of some charity, though only when it raised the character and superiority of
the giver.
Explain Social Responsibility in the late 19thand early twentieth centuries - CORRECT
ANSWER -- By the late 1800's it was a growing apparent to the business elite that prevailing
doctrines used to legitimize business defined its responsibilities too narrowly. Industrialization
had fostered social problems and political corruption. Farmers were in revolt. Labor was
increasingly violent. Socialism was at high tide. Average Americans began to question unfettered
laissez- faire economics and the doctrine of social Darwinism.
What were the three interrelated themes of broader responsibility that emerged during the
Progressive era? - CORRECT ANSWER -1. Managers were Trustees, agents whose corporate
roles put them in positions of power over the fate of not just stockholders but also of others such
as workers, customers, and communities.
2. Managers had an obligation tobalancethese multiple interest. They were in effect,
coordinators who settled competing claims.
3. Many managers subscribed to the Service Principle a near spiritual belief that individuals
managers served society by making each business successful; if they all prospered, the aggregate
