Business Ethics Test 2

What is a social good? Give an example. How are social goods distributed?

- A good that obtains its worth from its social context. - An example would be education or knowledge or political power - Social goods can be distributed according to: procedures, criteria, agents, qualifications, political loyalty, birth/blood, etc.

Market Society

- A society in which everything is for sale, even things that shouldn't be (AKA fictitious commodities like Land, Labor, and Money) - Market Society = nation/state + Market economy

Explain Polanyi's concept of "Double Movement" in terms of its relation to a market society

- As neoliberals push for the implementation of a market economy, they will simultaneously face the consequences of such actions (environmental and societal consequences)

What are fictitious commodities?

- Land, Labor, and Money - They exist because in a market economy EVERYTHING must have its own market

Explain Utilitarianism.

- Maximize the pleasure for the greatest number of people - Two types: Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism - Jeremy Bentham and J.S. Mill - Consequential which means this theory looks forward at the outcomes of any decision

Explain Virtue Ethics.

- Puts character above all else - Social roles help develop certain desirable virtues - Focuses on the question of, "What should I be?" - Aristotle

Explain Walzer's understanding of distributive justice.

- Walzer believes that to have a more egalitarian distribution of social goods, goods/services that are bought in one sphere should not be used to buy goods/services in another sphere.

Explain Walzer's view of dominance. Explain Walzer's view of Monopolies.

- Walzer defines dominance as, "I call a good dominant if the individuals who have it, just because they have it, can command a wide range of other goods." (Walzer thinks dominance is the worse of the two) - Walzer defines Monopolies as, "a good is monopolized whenever a single man or woman or group of men and women successfully hold it against all rivals"

Explain the concept of Complex Equality.

- Walzer defines the theory of complex equality as one that states that one person's standing in one sphere cannot affect their position in another sphere.

Explain Kantian Ethics.

- categorical imperative (1-3) - never treat person as means to an end - Non consequential which means that theory looks backwards at the motives of the action - Focuses on moral theory and always doing what is morally correct - Immanuel Kant

Commodity Fetishism

- giving divine characteristics to material objects - a type of social relationship that usually forms through the means of production and exists between money and commodities exchanged in a market economy

What are some characteristics of complex equality?

- small Monopolies are okay - NO DOMINANCE - equality in one sphere cannot affect equality in another sphere

What are the characteristics of a market economy?

1. Property rights 2. buyers and sellers 3. A place where the transaction occurs 4. Scarcity 5. A good/service that is involved

Market Economy

An economy that is controlled, regulated, and directed by market prices

How does Polanyi feel about the concept of market society, market economy, and Neoliberalism?

He does not like any of them and is very critical of them.

Define Neoliberalism?

The belief that national society and the global economy can be and should be organized through self-regulating markets.