The Configuration of Corporate Social Responsibility

The Danish National Institute of Social Research carries out a research program on the Open Labour Market, to be concluded in 2002. This research program is initiated by the Ministry of Social Affairs. One of the projects in the research program is International experiences and perspectives. This working paper contains the first results from this research project.The paper provides a theoretical tool for understanding how we may perceive the role of the enterprise as a social actor involved in the reconciliation of work and family life. Following system theory, the paper will address how the enterprise can be regarded as operating as a separate subsystem where functional differentiation prevails, in the sense that increasing specialisation of different subsystems has taken place. The paper will claim that the enter prise in a post-modern society operates in a system of functional equivalence, where societal problems can be adressed by various subssystems, i.e. the enterprise may respond to needs which are dealt with by the family, or the state in other settings.