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Social Justice and Human Rights
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Catholic Social Thought and Business Education For the past three years I have been working with a group of scholars
on what has been called the "Catholic Social Thought and Management
Education" project. The purpose of this group is to "address
the fragmentation of modern life by seeking ways in which faith can
be successfully integrated with management education and practice."
To a certain extent this can be restated as: "How can business
schools at Catholic universities fulfill their mission as ‘Catholic’
business schools?" This central question needs to be addressed,
I think, in a blunt New York fashion. Either there is something that
can be called a "Catholic" business education or there isn't.
I suspect that most business educators, even most Catholic business
educators, would argue that there isn't. This is because it is either
thought that "Catholic" values so contradict those of "Business"
that the two should be kept as separate as possible (this is the fragmentation
mentioned above), or that a good business education is ethically neutral
and would be no different at St. John’s University than at New
York University. Yet, it seems to me that if either of these answers
is correct, than the Vincentian Fathers are wasting their time, talent
and treasure on operating a College of Business. It only makes sense
for the Vincentian community to operate a College of Business because
they feel that a "Catholic" and "Vincentian" business
education is possible and desirable. I would argue that we in fact can help the poor and marginalized by providing a business education based on Catholic values. This is so for three reasons. First, St. John’s University traditionally has serviced first generation college students, with many of our students being from the poor. In this role St. John’s has had a major impact on the social mobility of these groups. Education has always been the best route out of poverty and to this end St. John’s has been a leader. This is an achievement St. John’s is, and rightly should be, proud of. Second, the business leaders of the future (our students at the College of Business) will be making the important decisions that will impact the type of society in which we will live in the future, and specifically will at many levels make decisions that will impact the poor and marginalized. In fact, this is the group that has the most influence on the creation and distribution of wealth and incomes in a capitalist economy. We should be under no illusions here, for if we create a moral vacuum by not providing a business education grounded in our faith tradition, this void will be filled by the lowest ethical common denominator - the gospel of laissez-faire economics. Lastly, by grounding our business education in the two thousand year old tradition of Catholic social teaching, we can provide a better, more realistic business education and that education promotes the common good, which is what we are called to do. This last point I think will strike many as odd, but I think that it is an argument that can be sustained. A business education grounded in the values of Catholic social thought is more realistic than a so-called "positive" or ethically neutral education. This is so for nine reasons: 1. To quote Michael Stebbins of the Woodstock Theological Center: "If we are going to be clear about what business is and how it should operate, we have to do so in view of the overriding fact that our ultimate goal is union with God and with one another.... In claiming this, we are not talking ‘pie in the sky.’ We are talking about the real world, the world as it actually is. To think about human living without considering God's intentions for us is to think about a world that simply does not exist. What could be more unrealistic or unpragmatic?" 2. Acceptance of a God-centered view of the world naturally leads to the view that, as Sean Healy and Brigid Reynolds have written: "God speaks to every reality. Whatever we are looking at whether it is an issue such as world hunger ... or an economic system such as Capitalism, God does have something to say to that reality. Our world either is or is not in accord with God's ideal for it. Consequently it is important for us to come to know what God is saying to whatever reality we are examining. God speaks to these issues or situations in various ways: through the Bible, through the teachings of His Church, through the signs of the times and through the prophets who interpret those signs" (Healy and Reynolds, 1983, p. 5-6). Catholic social teaching connects our realities. 3. Catholic social teaching provides a richer and more realistic understanding of the human person and society. The individualistic-utilitarian "rational economic man" that underscores much business education is not only a gross simplification; he is a non-existent abstraction, an impossibility in civil society. The mechanical view of society which complements this view of human nature is also unrealistic and an impossibility. In CST the human person is always seen as a member of a community and cannot be seen as otherwise. As stated in Quadragesimo Anno: "According to Christian doctrine, man, endowed with a social nature, is placed on earth in order that he may spend his life in society, ... that he may develop and evolve to the full all his faculties to the praise and glory of his Creator." (118) 4. The underlying values of Catholic social teaching, "The Promotion of the Common Good and the Protection of Human Dignity," are certainly more justifiable than the utilitarian values that form the foundation of the theology of our commercial society - economic theory. In CST all economic activity (consumption, production work, etc.) is seen as a means to an end, not as an end in itself. The future happiness of our students and the level of social justice in society will depend largely on the adoption of a balanced and full understanding of social values, as distinct from commercial values. 5. What is the purpose of Business? There are two competing views on this question: The shareholder view and the stakeholder view. Both are incomplete and unsatisfactory justifications of business. From a CST perspective " the purpose of business is to produce an economic standard of living that correctly reflects prioritized values.... meeting people's needs and wants is why businesses exists." 6. In economics we treat labor as a disutility, as drudgery. Even worse, we look at it as a factor of production to be used towards an end (profits). While much work is unpleasant, the goal is to move all human activity out of this type of work and into avenues of self-realization and fulfillment. The Catholic social teaching view of work, outlined so elegantly in John Paul II encyclical on human work, states that when we work we are participating with God in the act of creation. It is an essential aspect of our humanity. This is the basis for the priority of labor over capital. It is the attitude that the economy and the firm should serve people and not the other way around. 7. Catholic social teaching emphasizes the social nature of the creation and distribution of wealth and incomes. This is true for the firm, the community and the country (even the world). Contrary to "individualistic" explanations of wealth creation and distribution (as in Economic Theory), these acts are inherently social, and carry both rights and responsibilities. The CST approach offers a deeper analysis, which is also more accurate. 8. The Catholic social thought (and Thomistic) understanding of property, of the benefits of private property and of the social nature of property (what John Paul II calls property's social mortgage) is more realistic than the Lockean theory which grounds business education. Furthermore, the two extreme approaches to the issue of property (laissez-faire unlimited private versus state ownership) completely miss the point that what matters is how we treat our fellow humans, not merely property relations. CST offers a middle ground based on human dignity and the common good. 9. The Just Wage and the Just Price concepts play important
roles in Catholic social thought as they emphasize the ethical component
of these social variables. Ethical judgments are an important factor
in the determination of wages and prices. Too often the role of power
and social exclusion are hidden under the myth of the "all mighty"
market, when in fact they determine prices and wages and thus create
the great inequalities we see today. Emphasizing these factors allows
for an open discussion of whose values and interests will be served
in economic activity. REFERENCES
It is right to struggle against an unjust economic
system that
1 _Charles M.
A. Clark is a 2000-2002 Senior Fellow at the Vincentian Center
for Church and Society and Professor of Economics and Finance, Peter
J. Tobin College of Business, St. John’s University. Professor
Clark is the author of Economic Theory and Natural Philosophy
(1992), Pathways to a Basic Income (with John Healy) (1997)
and Basic Income: Economic Security for All Canadians (with
Sally Lerner and Robert Needham) (1999) and the editor of History
and Historians of Political Economy (1994) and Institutional
Economics and the Theory of Social Value (1995) and Unemployment
in Ireland (with Catherine Kavanagh) (1998). He has lectured widely
in the United States and Europe. His current research interests include
alternative measures of economic and social well-being and Catholic
social thought and the role of values and ethics in the economy. He
holds a Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research.
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