Health, Rights, and Profits: Can Capitalism Be Ethical?

Exploring Corporate Social Responsibility as a Path to Health Equity

Slide 1: Setting the Stage: Human Rights at Risk

The Vital Role of CSR in Safeguarding Health

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  • Presentation Introduction: An exploration of how capitalism, human rights, and health disparities intersect, highlighting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)'s potential for transformative change.
  • Speaker Introduction: My name is Merissa Codiot, and this presentation is for HLTH 4860, Health & Social Justice with Professor Romeo, May 2, 2025.
  • Capitalism's Impact: Capitalism's link to labor exploitation and unsafe working conditions raises critical questions about its effects on the health and well-being of individuals.
  • Human Rights Violations: Human rights violations, especially prominent in low-wage sectors, have detrimental effects on both physical and mental health.
  • Ethical Business: Due to my concerns about ethical business practices and health justice, I find this topic personally meaningful.

Slide 2: The Core Argument: CSR as a Solution

How Ethical Practices Can Mitigate Harm

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  • Addressing the Problem: Diving into the social problem caused by capitalism. This will provide the base of the entire presentation.
  • Ethical Business and Health Justice: My values align with ethical businesses and health justice. It has furthered my need to find out about CSR.
  • Thesis Statement: CSR as a practical and ethical strategy to reduce health-related human rights violations that stem from unchecked capitalism is the thesis.
  • Reducing Violations: The goal is to reduce health related human rights violations by incorporating CSR into business practices.
  • Overall Impact: The overall impact of incorporating CSR into business practices can improve the lives and conditions of many.

Slide 3: Research Deep Dive: CSR in Action

Evidence-Based Strategies for Positive Change

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  • Literature Overview: The literature review consisted of 10+ peer reviewed journal articles regarding this topic of CSR.
  • Key Topics: The topics of the literature review included: labor rights, CSR impact, supply chain audits, and health equity programs.
  • Actionable Interventions: The focus of the review was on the actionable interventions that can be done to solve the problem.
  • Findings From Literature: Findings indicate that CSR programs enhance factory safety and decrease injuries (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012).
  • Measurable Results: Supply chain monitoring programs have showed measurable results, an example of this is the Fair Food Program.

Slide 4: Unveiling the Gaps: Where CSR Falls Short

Addressing Limitations and Ensuring Accountability

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  • Lack of Enforcement: Many CSR programs can lack enforcement. This leads to people being unable to fully trust these programs.
  • Oversight Needed: Without the oversight of a third party, initiatives that companies make can be performative and not truly beneficial.
  • Implementation: The implementation of these programs are disproportionate in the Global South. This is one of the main areas that needs help.
  • CSR Limitations: It is important to understand that CSR has its limitations and sometimes cannot fully address the problems at hand.
  • The Overall Plan: The point is not that CSR is not important, but that it needs improvement to work to its full capability.

Slide 5: Health Disparities: A Stark Reality

How Capitalism Exacerbates Inequality

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  • Capitalist Systems: Capitalist systems concentrate risk on low-income and marginalized groups of people. This can cause many disparities.
  • Racial and Gender Inequities: Racial and gender-based inequities exist in occupational health outcomes. This can be due to a multitude of reasons.
  • Healthcare Access: Low wages prevent access to proper health care. Healthcare is a human right, but is only accessible to those who can afford it.
  • Rural and Migrant Workers: High-risk jobs are disproportionately located in rural and migrant worker communities, further causing health disparities.
  • Language Barriers: Language barriers and immigration status can exacerbate health disparities, hindering the ability to get proper care.

Slide 6: The Ripple Effect: Long-Term Consequences

Health, Society, and Trust

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  • Long Term Stress: Long term stress, chronic illness, and unsafe housing is a result of untreated health disparities. This will further the problem.
  • Public Health Goals: These disparities undermine the goals of public health and create distrust in public systems.
  • Economic Impact: Health disparities affect the economy and productivity in the long run.
  • Undermining Progress: These disparities can undermine the progress of society as a whole if left untamed. Progress depends on all.
  • Breaking the Cycle: It is imperative to break this cycle and create a more equitable system for all people across all areas.

Slide 7: A Proactive Plan: Ethical Supply Chains

Promoting Health Through Workplace Audits & Partnerships

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  • Initiative Title: The title of this initiative is the Ethical Supply Chain Health Audit Initiative. It's goal is to promote health.
  • Main Focus: The focus of this initiative is workplace health audits and CSR partnerships. This will create real lasting change.
  • Stakeholders: The stakeholders for this initiative include employers, workers, NGOs, and health educators to ensure proper assistance.
  • Fair Conditions: The initiative depends on safe and equitable working conditions for everyone to succeed.
  • Empowering Workers: The goal of the initiative is to empower workers with reporting tools for health related incidents.

Slide 8: Targets for Success: Measurable Impact

Setting Goals for Workplace Well-being

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  • Goals and Objectives: The goal is to ensure safe and equitable working conditions for everyone in a workplace setting.
  • Worker Empowerment: Empowering workers with reporting tools is a goal to help give workers a voice and create a safe environment.
  • Injury Reduction: A major goal of this initiative is to reduce preventable workplace injuries by incorporating strategies.
  • Key Methods: The key methods of this program include annual audits, grievance systems, and anonymous feedback tools to ensure accountability.
  • Outcomes: The desired outcomes are reduced health disparities and increased corporate transparency.

Slide 9: Achieving the Vision: Strategies & Resources

Tools for Transparency & Improved Health

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  • Annual Audits: These audits will help show discrepancies in practices and show opportunities for improvement.
  • Grievance Systems: Creating a system where people can voice complaints will help with transparency and equity.
  • Anonymous Feedback: Implementing anonymous feedback tools can increase honest and reliable feedback from workers.
  • Transparency: With transparency, people will be able to view the actual outcomes and give feedback as needed for improvements.
  • Partnerships: Partnerships with third-party health NGOs can help get more information for best practices for health.

Slide 10: Visualizing the Impact: Understanding Risks

Engaging the Audience Through Data

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  • Visual Prompt: Create an infographic with visuals to display health risks in the food supply chain to show risk factors.
  • Handout Activity: Create an activity where people can identify which CSR programs they support and why. Promote critical thinking.
  • Data Analysis: Analyzing the data and results can provide even more useful information to implement in the future.
  • Supportive Environment: Creating a supportive environment where people are not afraid to share is extremely helpful.
  • Visual Engagement: Using visuals can help the audience become more engaged and think critically about these issues.

Slide 11: Take Action: Be the Change

Practical Steps for a Healthier, More Ethical World

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  • Legislation Advocacy: Advocating for legislation, such as the Fair Food Program, can help improve conditions for workers.
  • Ethical Choices: Making a choice to choose ethically certified products is a step in the right direction for everyone.
  • Organizational Support: Supporting organizations such as Human Rights Watch or Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility can help.
  • Spreading Awareness: Spreading awareness about these causes can also make a big difference in the long run for advocacy.
  • The Impact of Action: Taking action and advocating can influence many people and create real change for the better.

Slide 12: Transformative CSR: Beyond Marketing

Putting Health & Ethics First

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  • Ethical Capitalism: Ethical capitalism means prioritizing the health of people, which can happen when CSR is in place.
  • Corporate Social Responsibility: CSR can be more than marketing when done right, it can save lives when health is at the forefront.
  • Prioritizing Health: Ethical capitalism prioritizes human health, as it believes this is a fundamental part of a better society.
  • Main Conclusion: CSR is important and can create many great changes if done ethically and with the intention of helping the workers.
  • Questions and Thoughts: I would now like to take the time for questions and thoughts about this presentation to further conversation.

Slide 13: Initiative Impact: Creating Safe Workplaces

How Ethical Practices Can Mitigate Harm

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  • Capitalism's Impact: Capitalism's link to labor exploitation and unsafe working conditions raises critical questions about its effects on the health and well-being of individuals.
  • Ethical Business and Health Justice: My values align with ethical businesses and health justice. It has furthered my need to find out about CSR.
  • Reducing Violations: The goal is to reduce health related human rights violations by incorporating CSR into business practices.
  • Ethics at Workplace: Creating Ethics at the workplace can increase worker efficacy and promote a safe environment.
  • Ethical Practices: CSR offers a practical, ethical strategy to reduce health-related human rights violations resulting from unchecked capitalism.

Slide 14: Shaping a Better Future: Ethical Consumption

Promoting Health Through Workplace Audits & Partnerships

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  • Visual Prompt: Create an infographic with visuals to display health risks in the food supply chain to show risk factors.
  • Annual Audits: These audits will help show discrepancies in practices and show opportunities for improvement.
  • Goals and Objectives: The goal is to ensure safe and equitable working conditions for everyone in a workplace setting.
  • Prioritizing Health: Ethical capitalism prioritizes human health, as it believes this is a fundamental part of a better society.
  • Organizational Support: Supporting organizations such as Human Rights Watch or Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility can help.

Slide 15: Thank You

Appreciation for your time and attention

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  • Gratitude: I extend my sincere appreciation for your presence and engagement during this presentation.
  • Inspiration: May this presentation inspire continued exploration and action towards creating more ethical business practices.
  • Further Discussion: I welcome any further discussion or collaboration on this important topic as we all work towards creating a more equitable world.
  • Commitment: Thank you for your commitment to learning and your role in promoting positive change. Together, we can make a difference.
  • Continued Progress: Let us continue to strive for progress and uphold the values of social justice and ethical business practices.