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Business Ethics In The 1970s

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Historically, business ethics was of little concern to the majority. However, beginning around the early 1970s, ethical commercial policies and procedures became significantly important. Prior to the 1970s, the term business ethics was seldom a discussion. Most companies simply did not care about the ethics of their business operations, mission or corporate behavior—they were focused totally on the bottom line profits. Conversely, colleges and universities began to offer courses that focused on “Logic,” “Epistemology,” and “Ethics” in the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, most of these courses involved highly theoretical, esoteric concentrations, seldom found in business curriculums. In many cases, these subjects were offered to liberal …show more content…

Yet, it was not until the early 1970s, that the study of business ethics evolved into the academic lexicon. Academia took notice of the growing importance of business’s commitment to its “social responsibility.” Their response was to add business ethics courses to their curricula, many colleges and universities forsaking their former esoteric course offerings of the theoretical ethics of Plato, Aristotle and other noted forefathers of philosophical theorems of ethical behavior. Still prevalent throughout the 70s, however, was the study of ethical issues in a social context. The first symposium devoted to business ethics apparently was offered at the University of Kansas in 1974, although there may have been less publicized and/or smaller conferences in academia prior to this event. By design or as a chance would have it, the business ethics academic field paralleled the development of medical ethics, another academic issue seemingly forgotten prior to the 1960s. Until the study of medical ethical issues gained prominence in the 1960s, most medical studies focused on direct, technical techniques only. Business ethics remained overlooked until a decade

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