"Spirituality, CSR and Reimagining the Mid-Century American Corporation: The History of the Federal Council of Churches and the Origins of The Social Responsibilities of the Businessman"

The same year as the founding of the Mont Pelerin Society in 1947, another group met in Pittsburgh to imagine the future of business very differently. The Federal Council of Churches’ (FCC) first National Study Conference on the Church and Economic Life was part of a national church effort to reshape corporate conduct. The FCC’s program culminated in 1953 with the publication of Howard Bowen’s “landmark” book on corporate social responsibility, The Social Responsibilities of the Businessman (Acquier et al., 2011, p. 608). Although it has been often noticed that Bowen’s book was sponsored by the FCC and the Rockefeller Foundation, the history of this network of academics, businesspeople and theologians has never been reconstructed. Based on original research in the archives of the FCC, and the correspondence and notes of leading participants such as Howard Bowen and Theodore Schultz, this paper reconstructs the history of the FCC initiatives and study groups that met between 1947-1955. It argues for the existence of a much larger network than previously recognized, identifying relationships with the University of Chicago, for example, and participation in a global conversation among Protestant denominations about economic theology. The paper identifies the specific contribution of the working groups to CSR, their elaboration of key concepts such as trusteeship, meaningful work, and monopoly, and their advocacy of alternative forms of business organization. By doing so, the paper highlights the important influence of spirituality on ideas about responsible business as well as the challenges facing those seeking to transform the behaviours of business corporations (Jones, 2023). During another period of corporate reform when large foundations are again funding research groups to “reimagine the corporation,” this history deepens our understanding of American CSR as well as the obstacles attending the cyclical attempts to reform the business corporation.