Social Responsibility: A Continuing Challenge

     Social responsibility is a continuing challenge to modern business. Realizing that business is actually serving its own long-run interests by aiding the community, many firms today are actively meeting the three major social challenges of the day: equal opportunity, ecology, and consumerism.

     The Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 were all landmarks in helping ensure equal opportunity in the workplace. However, business has also played a key role in helping find work for minorities and the handicapped and many firms have also helped minority capitalists by providing them with both technical assistance and business contracts.

     Yet in these areas, and particularly in the area of discrimination against women, a great deal remains to be done. Many working women today, despite the law, are subjected to sexual harassment and often do not receive equal pay for equal work. Nor are their chances for management promotion as good as those of their male counterparts. Fortunately, many companies are aware of these conditions and are taking steps to rectify them.

     The second major area of consideration in this chapter was ecology, with concerns ranging from air pollution to water and noise pollution. In each instance, demands on business firms have resulted in attempts to respond positively to the challenge.

     Finally, today's consumers want to know what they are buying and what they are getting for their dollar. Such legislation as the Truth in Packaging Act and the Truth in Lending Act has helped provide consumers with some important information and assistance. Yet the consumer movement is more than just a need for more data. Consumers also want product safety; and when it is overlooked by manufacturers, lawsuits are likely. As a result more and more companies have begun in recent years to pay close attention to liability laws and the development of safety checklists that help ensure the requisite quality in their products.

     The future of social responsibility was discussed in the last part of this chapter. Recent evidence, in the form of codes of conduct and employee assistance programs, indicates that the challenge of social responsibility is going to be here indefinitely. Further, all signs indicate that business is both willing and able to respond to it.