Corporate social responsibility in times of recession: Changing discourses and implications for policy and practice

In UK environmental, social, and economic policy‐making sustainable development (SD) is discussed in a corporate‐centric manner, with corporate social responsibility (CSR) seen as an extension of SD. The CSR and SD agendas have, to some extent, been confined to ones which are ‘safe’ in the current economic system. This paper examines whether the way corporations ‘talk about’ CSR has changed during the recession. Using document analysis and interviews with key informants, this paper contributes to the debate around whether change in language leads to change in action and whether this affects agenda‐setting and policy‐making. This paper contributes to the debate linking CSR and corporate activity and investigates how robust CSR activity is when economic prosperity is threatened. Initial findings suggest that CSR is seemingly recession‐proof, at least in part because corporate commitment to CSR remains conservative and securely grounded in the safe area of efficiency.