Overview

The world of wage labour seems to have become a soulless machine, an engine of social and environmental destruction. Employees seem to be nothing but 'cogs' in this system - but is this true? Located at the intersection of political theory, moral philosophy, and business ethics, this book questions the picture of the world of work as a 'system'. Hierarchical organizations, both in the public and in the private sphere, have specific features of their own. This does not mean, however, that they cannot leave room for moral responsibility, and maybe even human flourishing. Drawing on detailed empirical case studies, Lisa Herzog analyses the nature of organizations from a normative perspective: their rule-bound character, the ways in which they deal with divided knowledge, and organizational cultures and their relation to morality. The volume examines how individual agency and organizational structures would have to mesh to avoid common moral pitfalls and develops the notion of 'transformational agency', which refers to a critical, creative way of engaging with one's organizational role while remaining committed to basic moral norms. The volume goes on to explore the political and institutional changes that would be required to re-embed organizations into a just society. Whether we submit to 'the system' or try to reclaim it, Herzog argues, is a question of eminent political importance in our globalized world.

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9780198830405

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Reviews

This groundbreaking study is the rare case of a work of philosophy, in which central claims are developed by drawing directly on either own empirical material or relevant empirical scholarship. With the courage to synthesize far-ranging topics, using a high degree of sociological imagination, and with analytically trained argumentative skills, Lisa Herzog opens up an unjustly neglected area of moral or social philosophy. * Axel Honneth, Columbia University * Lisa Herzog's work reflects a closer engagement with empirical literature on human behaviour and organizational theory than is found in any other leading ethical theory. Moreover, the integration she proposes is original, her discussions are rich and subtle, and her policy discussion is highly nuanced . . . this is an important work that makes a real contribution to our understanding of the ethical dimensions of organizations. * Debra Satz, Standford University * In her excellent treatise, Lisa Herzog argues for a comprehensive and original conception of an ethics of and within institutions. A much-needed, methodologically innovative contribution to a topic we need to think more about if we want to understand the complexities of our social life. * Rainer Forst, Goethe University Frankfurt *

Author Information

Lisa Herzog is Professor of Political Philosophy and Theory at the Hochschule für Politik of the Technical University of Munich. She works at the intersection of political philosophy and economic and social issues, focussing on the history of political and economic ideas, normative questions around markets, business ethics, and ethics in organisations. Her publications include Inventing the Market. Smith, Hegel, and Political Theory (OUP, 2013), and Just Financial Markets? Finance in a Just Society (editor, OUP, 2017).

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