Review by Choice Review
An academic with substantial experience in politics and public service, Anderson (Michigan State Univ.) challenges the traditional assumption that helping disadvantaged citizens is purely a government responsibility. In this book, he examines four market-based approaches to addressing fundamental human needs: corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, private sustainable development, and fair trade. Anderson then discusses the historical and political development of each approach and identifies its primary beneficiaries and its strengths and limitations. He forms balanced assessments of these social innovations: corporate social responsibility initiatives may benefit corporate employees and subcontractors, consumers, and local community members, but such activities are almost always based within a profit-making framework. Social entrepreneurship has encouraged business experts to become involved in solving difficult social problems, but, so far, proof of its effectiveness is hard to find. The author continues with capable analyses of the latter two approaches (private sustainable development and fair trade), similarly weighing their advantages and disadvantages within society. Noting progress as well as the need for more research and experimentation, Anderson argues for the potential of market-based approaches as growing and necessary companions to, or replacements for, traditional reliance on government assistance. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. --Mildred S. Myers, Carnegie Mellon University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
