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- Convenors:
-
Bernard Wong
(San Francisco State University)
Jijiao Zhang (Insititute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
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- Track:
- Producing the Earth
- Location:
- Roscoe 2.5
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 6 August, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Social Responsibility, and its relationship with Business Operation & Urban Development are very important topics for Anthropologists to do research.
Long Abstract:
For the Commission on Enterprise Anthropology (CEA), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one of the most important topics in Enterprise studies. In the past years, CEA has organized/co-organized several
conferences on "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)", in Kunming (2009), in Antalya (2010), in Hongkong (2010), and in Beijing (2008, 2011) respectively.
Since 1990s, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not only a concept but also an important issue as it emerged in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia-Pacific Region. There is as yet, no
widely agreed definition of CSR. On 1 November 2010, ISO 26000 was launched, and it provides guidance
to all types of organizations, regardless of their size or location, on:
- concepts, terms and definitions related to social responsibility;
- the background, trends and characteristics of social responsibility;
- principles and practices relating to social responsibility;
- the core subjects and issues of social responsibility;
- integrating, implementing and promoting socially responsible behaviour throughout the organization and, through its policies and practices, within its sphere of influence;
- identifying and engaging with stakeholders; and
- communicating commitments, performance and other information related to social responsibility.
Anthropologists value the economic sustainability of organizations as well as their environmental and social sustainability. So, in this panel, we would like to share our research on Social Responsibility, and its relationship with Business Operation & Urban Development.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 6 August, 2013, -Paper short abstract:
Clean Tech is viewed among the entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley as the next evolutionary step. Countercultural beliefs merge with business pitches to create a cultural narrative about clean technology’s role in shaping particular cultural futures. This paper uses fieldwork with entrepreneurs to explore how risk is understood and managed.
Paper long abstract:
Clean Tech is viewed, especially among the entrepreneurs and pundits of Silicon Valley, as the next evolutionary step for the region. Workers in this emerging work domain come from other technology fields, as well as disciplines ranging from classic energy economics to countercultural consumer products. Beliefs about the need to reinvent capitalism merge with narratives about innovation and environmentalism to create distinctive cultural narratives about the purpose and destiny of clean technology. This "new space," as technologists and entrepreneurs call it, has some of the features of the information technology economy, and others--such as a large and embedded infrastructure in the utilities industry, that are quite divergent. Politics, capital investments, and narratives of planetary and personal risk loom large in narratives about clean technology. It is a global industry, but local areas create different stories of how clean tech should be supported, cultivated and brought to market. Local political and economic realities also influence how work is developed and supported in particular regions. Based on fieldwork with entrepreneurs, educators, policy actors and consumers in Silicon Valley and along the Pacific West, this paper explores key metaphorical concepts—risk, entrepreneurship, innovation, and mission. Different stakeholders are imagining diverse cultural futures, some radical, others buffering a transformational shift, and use that vision of the future to rationalize particular actions.
Paper short abstract:
Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong, is a world hub of developing-world globalization located on some of the most expensive real estate on earth. How does this building survive? Will it be torn down to become a new shopping mall, or will it become “a Disneyland of the developing world”?
Paper long abstract:
Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong, is a world hub of developing-world globalization. It is where African and South Asian traders buy, under the radar of the law, cheap China-made phones, clothing, and computers, to carry back to their home countries. Chungking Mansions is in the heart of Hong Kong's tourist district, located on some of the most expensive real estate on earth. Why does this building, long reputed to be a center of crime, still exist?
Two reasons are these: 1) the building has 920 owners, many of whom cannot easily be found, and 2) the building's many business and guesthouse owners make much profit, not because of high prices but because of a high volume of customers. Thus they have long preferred the building to stay as it is—a crash pad for developed-world backpackers in the 1980s and a haven for developing-world traders today.
The incorporated owners have lately put in many improvements, whether to entice or fend off developers. But the most important factor in the building's survival may be that Chungking Mansions is now becoming fashionable. It still may be torn down to become one more shopping mall. But ironically, the building seems less likely to be demolished than to become a sort of "Disneyland of the developing world," for tourists and locals. This may be distasteful to anthropologists, but might be a socially responsible outcome, making the best of an untenable situation.
Paper short abstract:
The paper compares and contrasts the Chinese American entrepreneurs in Chinatown with those in Silicon Valley's high-tech businesses. Their definitions of social responsibility and cultural-specific business practices will be examined.
Paper long abstract:
Using the concept of "moral economy" and the ISO International Standards Guidance (ISO 2600), the paper will compare the differences and similarities in the attitudes toward community responsibility and business operations among the Chinese American entrepreneurs who function in and outside of Chinatown. Data obtained from fieldwork indicate that entrepreneurial success/failure has much to do with the application of cultural values in economic activities. Further, entrepreneurs in different localities were guided by different definitions of social responsibility; business practices pertaining to maintenance and profit maximization were influenced by cultural values important to the larger society as well as the ethnic community. The concept of "moral economy", contrary to the claim of many, is not only applicable to pre-capitalist societies; it is relevant to the ethnic enterprises in America. Entrepreneurs, who pay attention to social justice and community welfare, as indicated in the data, do have results. Finally, the paper examines how Chinese employees use cultural-specific methods such as gossip, resistance, protest, resignation, slow-down and other cultural mechanisms to exact employers' compliance to standards for social justice.