Socially Responsible Investment

This chapter focuses on Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) that throws light on both the conceptual and practical dimensions of this unique role, including how the core features of SRI might be seen in their clearest light, and how current practices and barriers to the growth and success of SRI might be negotiated. SRI investments are typically held in investment portfolios, which may include ownership of stock in many different companies. These investment portfolios are typically though not necessarily or exclusively managed on behalf of investors through professional fund management companies. The origins of SRI as an investment approach are undeniably bound up with moral disapproval of certain types of business practice, resting firmly on Christian ethical foundations. The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to the responsibilities of corporations regarding the human societies in and through which they operate, and in which they have some degree of power to affect socially important values.