Scholars To Scatter

Question 1

Primark Sweatshop Case

Answer 1

Argument:
CSR can lead to unintended harm

Point:
Cutting ties with unethical suppliers may worsen conditions

Example:
Primark cut off a sweatshop after public outrage, but the workers lost their jobs

Challenge/Support:
Supports Rule Utilitarianism – harm principle implies ethical complexity; challenges Kant, who would say always avoid exploitation, regardless of consequences

Question 2

Milton Friedman – Shareholder Theory

Answer 2

Argument:
Businesses exist only to serve shareholders

Point:
The only responsibility of a business is to make profit through fair competition

Example:
Argues CSR is unnecessary unless used for PR or profit

Challenge/Support:
Challenges CSR, whistleblowing, and Kantian ethics; supported by libertarian capitalism, but criticised for ignoring stakeholder impact and ethics

Question 3

William MacAskill – Effective Altruism & Sweatshops

Answer 3

Argument:
Sweatshops may be morally defensible

Point:
In poor countries, sweatshops can be better than the alternatives

Example:
Workers might starve if sweatshops are banned

Challenge/Support:
Supports Act Utilitarianism; challenges Kant by implying exploitation can increase happiness

Question 4

Edward Snowden – Whistleblowing

Answer 4

Argument:
Exposing unethical practices is morally just

Point:
Revealing truths (even illegally) is justified if rights are violated

Example:
Snowden exposed NSA spying on citizens

Challenge/Support:
Supported by Kant (lying wrong, truth is duty); challenges Utilitarianism (could lead to huge consequences like national security risks)

Question 5

Noam Chomsky – Anti-Corporate Power

Answer 5

Argument:
Global businesses are dangerous if unchecked

Point:
Corporations can gain political influence, eroding rights and democracy

Example:
Multinationals lobbying governments to relax labour laws

Challenge/Support:
Supports Kant (anti-exploitation); challenges Utilitarianism (slippery slope of happiness-justified harm)

Question 6

Adam Smith – Free Market Capitalism

Answer 6

Argument:
Self-interest drives economic benefit

Point:
Competition leads to innovation and cheaper products – the “invisible hand”

Example:
Free-market competition fosters societal growth

Challenge/Support:
Supported by both Kant & Mill as a framework; challenged when monopolies/globalisation erode competition and ethical boundaries

Question 7

Karl Marx – Capitalism Is Inherently Exploitative

Answer 7

Argument:
Capitalism alienates and devalues workers

Point:
Capitalist profit depends on exploiting labour

Example:
Workers generate value they don’t receive – leading to psychological harm

Challenge/Support:
Supports radical CSR critique; challenges Smith, Friedman, and moderate reforms – but communism’s failures challenge Marx’s alternatives

Question 8

Anand Giridharadas – Hypocrisy of CSR

Answer 8

Argument:
CSR is often corporate self-preservation, not ethics

Point:
Businesses use charity to distract from the harm they cause

Example: Bezos starting schools for underpaid children of Amazon workers

Challenge/Support:
Supports Marxist critique of capitalism and CSR; challenges Friedman’s notion that CSR is unnecessary; implies real justice > charity

Question 9

Globalisation

Answer 9

Argument:
Globalisation increases ethical risk and exploitation

Point:
Offshoring and deregulation create monopolies, suppress workers

Example:
Corporations force policy changes in host nations

Challenge/Support:
Challenges Adam Smith & Friedman (destroys free market); supports Chomsky and Kant (protect rights), mixed for Utilitarianism – benefit vs exploitation

Question 10

Utilitarianism (Bentham & Mill)

Answer 10

Argument:
Maximise happiness, case-by-case (Act) or rule-based (Rule)

Point:
Some exploitation may be justified if it increases net happiness

Example:
Sweatshops may save lives; whistleblowing may collapse businesses

Challenge/Support:
Supports MacAskill (sweatshops), flexible ethics; challenged for justifying rights violations; Rule Utilitarianism supports CSR and harm prevention

Question 11

Kantian Ethics

Answer 11

Argument:
Treat people as ends, not means

Point:
Exploitation is always wrong, regardless of outcomes

Example:
Whistleblowing is morally required if people are mistreated

Challenge/Support:
Supports CSR, whistleblowing, anti-globalisation; challenged by real-world complexity (e.g. sweatshops keeping people alive)