[Commlist] Discourse and Discord in CSR initiatives - Call for Papers

Discourse and Discord in CSR initiatives
Conference
Université Paris-Nanterre, France, 26 November 2021

Striking the right balance between the moral(istic) discourse of Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) on the one hand, and how this same discourse
translates into concrete CSR initiatives on the other, remains a conundrum
that many organizations grapple with. Informed by specific discursive
practices (mission statements, websites, press releases, etc.), “CSR
discourse” has recently become a discursive category in its own right,
which reflects the development of contemporary society and how companies
adapt and are perceived by it.
How a company acts within and interacts with society has evolved from one
generation to the next. Often cited as the father of CSR, Howard Bowen
highlights the debate between “social responsibilities and laissez-faire”
stating: “social institutions and organisations which are desirable in one
environment or in one stage of man’s development may be utterly
inappropriate in another”. Indeed, societal discord has brought forth a
number of innovative features in corporate social responsibility programs.
And yet, despite the body of discourse produced by companies to promote 
their
ethics and values, there is a tension/discord with respect to the reality of
these programs. Organizational media and communication outlets (company
mission statements, websites, press releases, corporate reports…) tout CSR
initiatives, which appear to quell a rising insurgency of social discord,
bridging the gap between generating profit and social stewardship. However,
one is forced to wonder about the efficacy of these initiatives.
This one-day conference focuses on the status of CSR as a discursive
construct, that begs a multidisciplinary analysis bringing together a number
of fields (linguistics, discourse analysis, economics, corporate
strategy...). The conference aims to rouse a discussion about ways in which
corporate discourse pertaining to CSR has blurred the lines of demarcation
between what traditional for-profit activities of corporations actually are
and what society deems they should be.. Such discursive constructs are
informed by various fields: Some themes to be explored:
- CSR as a discursive construct;
- The role of English (as the lingua franca of the business world) in the
construal of the dominant international discourse of CSR;
- Comparisons of discourse of CSR across languages and across cultures /
cross-cultural ethics;
- Linguistic and discursive analyses of specific discourse practices which
inform “the discourse of CSR”;
- Critical analyses of corporate citizenship, social entrepreneurship, and
corporate discourse more generally;
- The discursive subcategories: e.g. the discourse of sustainable
development, of diversity/equal opportunity...

Plenary speakers:
Ruth Breeze, Professor in Communication, Language and Linguistics,
Universidad de Navarra, Spain
Cristof Miska, Associate Professor in International business,
Wirtschaftsuniversität, Vienna, Austria

Contacts: Elvis Buckwalter (elvis.buckwalter /at/ gmail.com) ; Fiona Rossette
(rossette /at/ parisnanterre.fr)
Proposals for conference papers (title + abstract of 300-500 words) are 
to be
sent to both Elvis Buckwalter and Fiona Rossette by June 1st 2021. Responses
will be sent end of June 2021.
Languages for the conference are English and French.


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