Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Business Ethics: A Double Bind

Sampson, Steven LU ; Gallenga, Ghislaine and Soldani, Jérôme (2016) In Journal of Business Anthropology 10. p.1-9
Abstract
Introduction to special issue on Business Ethics, in the Journal of Business Anthropology. Today, business ethics can be found everywhere. But how can we define it intellectually? What does this concept include? How can we define it in explicitly anthropological terms? For the manager as well as the anthropologist, business ethics – in thoughts or in actions – involves dealing with opposing notions, often constructed as an opposition between efficiency versus ethics. As a matter of fact, an ethical approach can only grow out of a situation of double bind (Bateson 1972) in which a fine balance should be found between injunctions that are technically contradictory: being “good” according to one actor means being “bad” according to the other.... (More)
Introduction to special issue on Business Ethics, in the Journal of Business Anthropology. Today, business ethics can be found everywhere. But how can we define it intellectually? What does this concept include? How can we define it in explicitly anthropological terms? For the manager as well as the anthropologist, business ethics – in thoughts or in actions – involves dealing with opposing notions, often constructed as an opposition between efficiency versus ethics. As a matter of fact, an ethical approach can only grow out of a situation of double bind (Bateson 1972) in which a fine balance should be found between injunctions that are technically contradictory: being “good” according to one actor means being “bad” according to the other. This introduction to a set of papers sets out business ethics as an ethical practice that must be explored as part of moral anthropology. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
business ethics, social anthropology, moral anthropology, ethics, business anthropology
in
Journal of Business Anthropology
volume
10
pages
1 - 9
publisher
Journal of Business Anthropology
ISSN
2245-4217
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a4611eb7-8260-48fa-b019-67a2f0760519 (old id 8498364)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:41:10
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:18:53
@article{a4611eb7-8260-48fa-b019-67a2f0760519,
  abstract     = {{Introduction to special issue on Business Ethics, in the Journal of Business Anthropology. Today, business ethics can be found everywhere. But how can we define it intellectually? What does this concept include? How can we define it in explicitly anthropological terms? For the manager as well as the anthropologist, business ethics – in thoughts or in actions – involves dealing with opposing notions, often constructed as an opposition between efficiency versus ethics. As a matter of fact, an ethical approach can only grow out of a situation of double bind (Bateson 1972) in which a fine balance should be found between injunctions that are technically contradictory: being “good” according to one actor means being “bad” according to the other. This introduction to a set of papers sets out business ethics as an ethical practice that must be explored as part of moral anthropology.}},
  author       = {{Sampson, Steven and Gallenga, Ghislaine and Soldani, Jérôme}},
  issn         = {{2245-4217}},
  keywords     = {{business ethics; social anthropology; moral anthropology; ethics; business anthropology}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1--9}},
  publisher    = {{Journal of Business Anthropology}},
  series       = {{Journal of Business Anthropology}},
  title        = {{Business Ethics: A Double Bind}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3531817/8498371.docx}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}