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Corporate Responsibility in a Mediatized World: Institutional Ethics and the Question of Consumer Sovereignty

  • Michael LitschkaEmail author
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Part of the Ethik in mediatisierten Welten book series (EMW)

Abstract

This chapter questions the relevance of the concept of ‘consumer sovereignty’ in mediatized worlds on the theoretical basis of Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach. The ability to choose and make use of media offerings is dependent on the encompassing concept of ‘media capabilities’—and not on any rational choice actions by individuals. Following these arguments, responsibility in a world of mediatized institutions must (beneath being attributed to individual actors) also be borne by institutions like media companies. This ‘corporate’ responsibility has three components, all of them with communicative implications. Lastly, the role of media and media organizations in enabling better-informed participation in democratic processes by assisting in ‘interpersonal’ comparisons of utility is briefly examined.

Keywords

Consumer sovereignty Mediatized organizations Media capabilities Corporate responsibility Interpersonal comparison of utility Rational choice 
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© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department Medien und WirtschaftFachhochschule St. PöltenSt. PöltenÖsterreich

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