Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 January 2015
My objective is to extend Ronald Green’s account of postmodernism by asking how postmodern ethicists should interview business people. I note the use of the interview method in current business ethics research. I then present Jeffrey Stout’s criticism of Robert Bellah’s interview techniques used in Habits of the Heart, which prompts questions about what constitutes a postmodern interview. In conclusion I seek clarification about whether and in what sense Ron Green intends to be a “foundationalist postmodern business ethicist.”
1 See, for example, Stewart, R. Clegg, Modern Organizations: Organization Studies in the Postmodern World, (Newbury Park CA: Sage Publications Inc., 1990)Google Scholar.
2 David, Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity (Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell Inc., 1989), p. 44.Google Scholar
3 John, B. Matthews, Kenneth, E. Goodpaster and Laura, L. Nash, Policies and Persons: A Casebook in Business Ethics, 2nd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1991)Google Scholar.
4 Michael, Rion, The Responsible Manager, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990)Google Scholar.
5 Robert, Jackall, Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988)Google Scholar.
6 Barbara, Ley Toffler, Tough Choices: Managers Talk Ethics, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1986).Google Scholar
7 Robert, N. Bellah, Richard, Madsen, William, M. Sullivan, Ann, Swidler and Steven, M. Tipton, Habits of the Heart, (New York: Harper & Row, 1985)Google Scholar.
8 Ibid., p. ix.
9 Jeffrey, Stout, Ethics After Babel, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1988)Google Scholar.
10 Ibid., p. 197.
11 Ibid., p. 196.
12 Ibid., p. 198.
13 It is worth noting that Toffler quotes Coles as a model at the outset of her Tough Choices.
14 Robert, Coles, The Call of Stories, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989), p. 22Google Scholar.
15 Robert, Coles, The Moral Life of Children, (Boston: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986), p. 10Google Scholar.
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17 Ibid., p. 27.
18 Donald, N. McCloskey, The Rhetoric of Economics (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), p. 52Google Scholar.