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If we want more companies like Patagonia, we need laws to enforce it
Article

If we want more companies like Patagonia, we need laws to enforce it

If we want to get past “woke capitalism,” this is what it’ll take to get companies to an equitable relationship with both workers and society.

Kristin Toussaint
Fast Company, 2020
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

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Recommendation

Profound tumult and uncertainty characterized the year 2020: Myriad, interconnected crises have opened the political space to hold companies more accountable – while creating new possibilities for innovation.

Summary

Soaring rhetoric won’t reform Corporate America. New laws will.

The myriad crises of 2020 have put increasing pressure on Corporate America to address its role in perpetuating social injustices. Many companies have invested in high-minded ad campaigns while shunning substantive reforms. This concept has come to be known as “woke capitalism.” While companies have offered up symbolic gestures in hopes of fending off growing criticism of their largesse, a more genuine movement is gathering steam to redress corporate abuses by changing the law.

Few corporate gestures toward social responsibility in 2020 were authentic.

In response to a string of police...

About the Author

Kristin Toussaint is an assistant editor at Fast Company.

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