THE MAIN APPROACHES TO SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS: HISTORY AND MODERN TIMES

The paper studies theoretical aspects of corporate social responsibility of modern business. The author believes that some entrepreneurs in their daily work activities are characterized more as “socially irresponsible”. The paper examines sociological theories containing approaches to social responsibility of those researchers who consider success, especially financial one, to be the justification for the deviation, and assume that an increase in the degree of irresponsibility of a capitalist depends on the estimated income, who explain the degree of responsibility of the Protestant entrepreneurs by their religion and behaviour ethics. The author shows the differences in understanding of the social responsibility by entrepreneurs depending on the religion, European and American models of social responsibility. The paper reveals the prerequisites for the emergence of the socially responsible behavior of Western entrepreneurs, examines the emergence of corporate social responsibility in our country through the socially significant behavior of merchants in pre-revolutionary Russia. The features of modern formation of the socially responsible entrepreneurship are described, as well as the attitude of the modern entrepreneurial community and non-entrepreneurial population to the activity consistent with the principles of corporate social responsibility. One of the indicators of corporate social responsibility of an enterprise is the preparation and publication of a social non-financial report in accordance with international and Russian standards. The author gives examples of modern socially responsible national and foreign companies operating in the Russian market and publishing such reports. The paper analyzes the contents of social reports, examples of socially responsible activities in relation to employees and the local community. The necessity of increasing the number of Russian socially responsible companies, especially in small and medium-sized business, is emphasized.