Education and training opportunities are needed for any long-term
endeavour, including the advancement of social investment. Much
of the rationale behind the conferences and seminars is to provide
this kind of knowledge improvement. Though there are often opportunities
to upgrade one's knowledge through occasional forums such as these,
there does not seem to be much in the way of formal education
venues. Courses that are offered generally tend to include SRI
as part of larger topics.
Boston College in Massachusetts offers a good example. Graduate
courses in the Department of Sociology there provide material
relevant to social investing. The professors who teach them include
Severyn Bruyn, who wrote The field of social investment,
and Ritchie Lowry, author of GOOD MONEY: A Guide to Profitable
Social Investing in the '90s. Lowry is also the prime mover
behind the Good Money Journal, and On-Line Guide, an extensive
SRI information resource.
The courses include:
"Business and Society - Severyn Bruyn
... we examine the changing role of business and society, including
issues in corporate governance, professional ethics, worker self-management,
and the social development of work systems in American enterprise.
We will review current trends in corporate accountability, such
as equal employment opportunity, occupational safety and health,
government deregulation of industry an social self-regulation,
environmental and consumer protection, ethical investing, community
development corporations, and the changing character of multinational
corporations.
Corporate Social Responsibility - Ritchie Lowry
Contemporary capitalism is in a crisis because of the general
lack of social responsiveness on the part of corporate executives,
shareholders, investors, and other economic stakeholders. In response,
movements have arisen in recent decades to respond to this crisis
including socially responsive investing, shareholder and consumer
action, and corporate social responsibility. This seminar, through
shared readings and discussions, will consider the ways in which
these movements are responding to the crisis in capitalism. We
will consider alternative and more productive forms of economic
and business conduct."
