Double Book Launch: Ethics or exploitation? Unpacking sustainable capitalism

Double book launch for:

False Profits of Ethical Capital: Finance, Labour and the Politics of Risk by Claire Parfitt

Undermining Resistance: The Governance of Participation by Multinational Mining Corporations by Lian Sinclair

When: 630pm, Tuesday 29 October, 2024

Where: Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe

Registration: https://gleebooks.com.au/event/claire-parfitt-and-lian-sinclair-double-launch/

Capitalism has a seemingly endless ability to incorporate critique, to coopt criticism and to ‘fix’ crises in ways that re-establish the legitimacy of capitalist production and accumulation. We see this in the continued rise of ‘green’, ‘ethical’ and ‘participatory’ business in concepts like environmental, social, and governance (ESG), corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainable finance, or gender mainstreaming. Does the development of ESG and CSR agendas by corporations and investors present opportunities for meaningful social and environmental action?

Can activists influence perceptions of risk, profit, and crisis to improve environmental and social outcomes?

Can sustainability advocates improve environmental and social outcomes by participating in corporate processes?

Can capitalism ever be sustainable?

These are the central questions that two new books grapple with. False profits of ethical capital: finance, labour and the politics of risk by Claire Parfitt and Undermining resistance: The governance of participation by multinational mining corporations by Lian Sinclair, both in the Progress in Political Economy series by Manchester University Press.

Join the authors in conversation with Naomi Hogan from the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility – for a conversation reaching across and beyond academia and activism.

We hope this night can be the beginning of conversations about the limits of stakeholder or sustainable capitalism across any sectors of the economy, not limited to mining and finance.