Abstract
The author argues for the use of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel,The Great Gatsby, as a “text” for studying business ethics. The author presents a documented analysis of the major ethics themes in the book including, for example, moral growth, Gatsby's life of illusion, the withering of the American Dream, and the parallels between the 1920s and the 1980s. Fitzgerald's fiction analysis is then tied to the '90s via current social science and philosophical evidence addressing Fitzgerald's 1920s concerns. Data examining the incidence of lying in contemporary American life, a review of Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development, and data-based studies of wealth distribution in America are among those strands of evidence. The article concludes with a brief look at students' responses toGatsby in a legal and social environment of business course.
In effect, the author presents a lesson plan for teachingThe Great Gatsby as a general introduction to ethics and American values. As such, theGatsby discussion is designed to precede a more pragmatic and specific inquiry employing conventional business cases and the like.
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Tony McAdams is professor of business law in the Management Department at the University of Northern Iowa. Professor McAdams' articles have been published in theHarvard Business Review and theAcademy of Management Review, among other journals, and he is the principal author of the text,Law, Business, and Society. He received the 1978 Distinguished Teaching Award from the student government at the University of Kentucky.
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McAdams, T. The Great Gatsby as a business ethics inquiry. J Bus Ethics 12, 653–660 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01845904
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01845904