Utopian Dreams : Early Experiments in Corporate Social Responsibility

During the late 19th and early 20th Century, American business experimented with many kinds of relationships between the company and its employees. Ironically, the boldest attempts at improving the lives of workers were often followed by the most bitter labor disputes. Marc Hodak of NYU Stern will discuss several of these experiments, including Pullman, Vandergrift, and Hershey, to illustrate the lessons learned by the would-be reformers, and how they might inform the CSR movement today.