Navigating Between the Plots: A Narratological and Ethical Analysis of Business-Related Conspiracy Theories (BrCTs)
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Navigating Between the Plots: A Narratological and Ethical Analysis of Business‑Related Conspiracy Theories (BrCTs) Mathieu Alemany Oliver1 Received: 3 August 2019 / Accepted: 28 August 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract This paper introduces the concept of business-related conspiracy theories (BrCTs). Drawing on Aristotelian virtue ethics and undertaking a narratological and ethical analysis of 28 BrCTs found online, I emphasize that BrCTs are narratives with structures rooted in other latent macro- and meta-narratives, including centuries-old myths. In particular, I reconstruct the fictional world (diegesis) of BrCTs – one in which CSR and social contracts have failed – before identifying eight different types of actors as which people can morally situate themselves in their relationships with business. Finally, I elaborate on the actors’ performances and their use of external and legitimate forces to end the story. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential future research to help combat BrCTs, as well as a call for the critical study of political CSR. Keywords Business-related conspiracy theory (BrCT) · Structural narratology · Critical CSR · Political CSR Abbreviations BrCT Business-related conspiracy theory CSR Corporate social responsibility CT Conspiracy theory “I now had a greater appreciation for the celestial war between ‘good and evil’ […] I came to realize that much of our modern consumerist, money-driven society, including television, media, entertainment, industry and food production, were all the byproducts of this self-serving Orion orientation. Even if most of the CEOs of our corporations were not aware that the Orions were assisting them, they would essentially call on their services the more they indulged in their profitmotivated behaviors.” (David Wilcock, Wanderer Awakening) “Conspiracy theorist: a term to discredit those who have seen through the bullshit” (David Icke, davidicke.com)
* Mathieu Alemany Oliver m.alemany‑oliver@tbs‑education.fr 1
Social & Innovation Marketing Lab, TBS Business School, 1 Place Alfonse Jourdain ‑ CS 66810, 31068 Toulouse Cedex 7, France
Introduction According to Moscovici (1987, p. 153), “[the twentieth century] established conspiracy as a system of thought and a method of action.” Aaronovitch (2010, p. 3) even states that we have entered an era of “fashionable conspiracism.” Unfortunately, how to fight conspiracy theories remains a difficult question as research outside business ethics shows how difficult it is to debunk these theories and how attempts to debunk a theory often become, in the eyes of the conspiracists, evidence that the conspiracy is real (Sunstein and Vermeule 2009). In the field of business, the question might be equally difficult to answer as companies are places where profit-motivated interests can easily win over ethical decisions, and both companies and governments sometimes participate in a cult of secrecy that contributes to the nurturing of conspiracy thinking (De Maria 2006). It is important to study c
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