Order Description

Identify the key criticisms leveled by Arrow and Calkins & Wight against Friedman’s position as represented by his NY Times article. Identify the criticism that seems to you to be the most telling against Friedman. Can you defend Friedman against that criticism? Has reading Arrow and/or Calkins & Wight changed your view of the social responsibility of business?
• Milton Friedman, “The Social Responsiblity of Business is to Increase its Profits ,” The New York Times Magazine, Sept. 13, 1970.
• Kenneth J. Arrow, “Social Responsibility and Economic Efficiency ” (1973) excerpted in Cuilla et al. Honest Work: a Business Ethics Reader (Oxford, 2007.)
• M. Calkins and J. B. Wight, “The Ethical Lacunae in Friedman’s Concept of the Manager ,” Journal of Markets and Morality 11(2) (Fall 2008): 221-238.