Skip to main content
Log in

Whistle Blowers: Saints of Secular Culture

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Neither the corporate view of whistle blowers as tattle-tales and traitors, nor the more sympathethic understanding of them as tragic heroes battling corrupt or abused systems captures what is at stake in whistle blowing at its most distinctive. The courage, determination and sacrifice of the most ardent whistle blowers suggests that they only begin to be appreciated when they are seen as the saints of secular culture. Although some whistle blowers may be attempting to deflect attention from their own deficiencies and others may be disgruntled employees, the most serious instances involve a level of moral sensitivity that approaches religious proportions that are baffling for a culture that has dispensed with sainthood.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Boatright, John R.: 2000, Ethics and the Conduct of Business, third edition (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Boisjoly, Russell P., Ellen Foster Curtis and Eugene Mellican: 1989, 'Roger Boisjoly and the Challenger Disaster: The Ethical Dimensions', in Deborah C. Poff and Wilfrid J. Waluchow (eds.), 1999, Business Ethics in Canada, third edition (Prentice Hall Allyn Bacon Canada, Upper Saddle River, NJ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bok, Sissela: 2000, 'Whistleblowing and Professional Responsibility', in Peg Tittle (ed.), Ethical Issues in Business: Enquiries, Cases and Readings (Broadview Press, Ont., Upper Saddle River, NJ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowie, Norman: 1982, Business Ethics (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

    Google Scholar 

  • DeGeorge, Richard T.: 1986, Business Ethics, second edition (Macmillan, Upper Saddle River, JN).

    Google Scholar 

  • Glazer, Myron Peretz and Penina Migdal Glazer: 1989, The Whistleblowers, Exposing Corruption in Government and Industry (Collins Basic Books, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, J. W.: 1993, 'Blowing the Whistle', Administrative Science Quarterly 38.

  • James, Gene G.: 1995, 'In Defense of Whistle Blowing', in William H. Shaw and Vincent Barry (ed.), Moral Issues in Business, sixth edition (Wadsworth, Belmont, CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • James, William: n.d., The Varieties of Religious Experience (Doubleday Dolphin Books, Garden City, NY).

  • Lynn, Matthew: 1998, 'The Whistleblower's Dilemma', Management Today (October), 54–61.

  • Martin, Mike W.: 1999, 'WHISTLEBLOWING, Personal Life and Shared Responsibility for Safety in Engineering', in Deborah C. Poff and Wilfrid J. Waluchow (eds.), Business Ethics in Canada, third edition (Prentice Hall Allyn Bacon Canada, Scarborough, ON).

    Google Scholar 

  • Miceli, Marcia P and Janet P. Near: 1992, Blowing the Whistle: The Organizational and Legal Implications for Companies and Employees (Lexington Books, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Monroe, Kristen R., Michael C. Barton and Ute Klingemann: 1990, 'Altruism and the Theory of Rational Action: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe', Ethics 101, 103–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Near, Janet P. and Terry Morehead Dworkin: 1998, 'Responses to Legislative Changes: Corporate Whistleblowing Policies', Journal of Business Ethics 17, 1551–1561.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Hara, Jane: 1998, 'Whistle-Blower', MacLeans (16 Nov), 64–69.

  • Oliner, Samuel P. and Pearl M. Oliner: 1988, The Altruistic Personality: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe (Free Press, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Roche, James M.: 1971, 'The Competitive System, to Work, to Preserve, and to Protect', in Vital Speeches of the Day (May), p. 445, in Norman Bowie: 1982, Business Ethics (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

  • Seligman, D.: 1981, 'Rat Protection', Fortune (18 May), 36.

  • Velasquez, Manuel G.: 1998, Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases, fourth edition (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, Joseph W.: 1998, Business Ethics, second edition (The Dryden Press, Harcourt Brace, Fort Worth, TX).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Grant, C. Whistle Blowers: Saints of Secular Culture. Journal of Business Ethics 39, 391–399 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019771212846

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019771212846

Keywords

Navigation