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Business ethics from the standpoint of redemption: Adorno on the Possibility of Good Work

Business ethics from the standpoint of redemption: Adorno on the Possibility of Good Work
Business ethics from the standpoint of redemption: Adorno on the Possibility of Good Work
Given his view that the modern world is “radically evil,” Theodor Adorno is an unlikely contributor to business ethics. Despite this, we argue that his work has a number of provocative implications for the field that warrant wider attention. Adorno regards our social world as damaged, unfree, and false, and we draw on this critique to outline why the achievement of good work is so rare in contemporary society, focusing in particular on the ethical demands of roles and the ideological nature of management’s self-understanding. Nevertheless, we show that Adorno’s comments on activities such as art and philosophy mean that it is possible to draw on his work in a way that contributes constructively to the conversation about good and meaningful work within business ethics.
1052-150X
500
Reeves, Craig
f7333fa5-08d9-4aec-8cfd-aef43a2a163f
Sinnicks, Matthew
63b27aef-8672-4fa7-b2fa-388c9af51c57
Reeves, Craig
f7333fa5-08d9-4aec-8cfd-aef43a2a163f
Sinnicks, Matthew
63b27aef-8672-4fa7-b2fa-388c9af51c57

Reeves, Craig and Sinnicks, Matthew (2021) Business ethics from the standpoint of redemption: Adorno on the Possibility of Good Work. Business Ethics Quarterly, 31 (4), 500. (doi:10.1017/beq.2020.45).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Given his view that the modern world is “radically evil,” Theodor Adorno is an unlikely contributor to business ethics. Despite this, we argue that his work has a number of provocative implications for the field that warrant wider attention. Adorno regards our social world as damaged, unfree, and false, and we draw on this critique to outline why the achievement of good work is so rare in contemporary society, focusing in particular on the ethical demands of roles and the ideological nature of management’s self-understanding. Nevertheless, we show that Adorno’s comments on activities such as art and philosophy mean that it is possible to draw on his work in a way that contributes constructively to the conversation about good and meaningful work within business ethics.

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Reeves and Sinnicks - 2021 - Business Ethics from the Standpoint of Redemption (AM) - Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 4 January 2021
Published date: 1 October 2021

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 470061
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/470061
ISSN: 1052-150X
PURE UUID: b630b489-09aa-4cc7-ab8d-6e8d6d628a34
ORCID for Matthew Sinnicks: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2588-5821

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Date deposited: 30 Sep 2022 17:15
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:13

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Contributors

Author: Craig Reeves
Author: Matthew Sinnicks ORCID iD

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