L’IDENTITÉ NARRATIVE DU MANAGER SOCIALEMENT RESPONSABLE : LES APPORTS DE LA SOCIOLOGIE D’ANTHONY GIDDENS

Abstract

We consider CSR as a sense making process and use Anthony Giddens main sociological concepts to argument
this point of view. We build upon his structuration theory and his analysis of the consequences of modernity
to focus our attention on the reflexive project of the self, whereby self-identity is constituted by ordering selfnarratives. Responsible managers’ recursively vest their confidence in abstracts systems that help them to be
aware of manufactured risks linked to business activities. They adopt professional lifestyles as slices of their
activities within which fairly consistent and responsible social practices are followed and retrospectively told
in the form of stories. Storytelling analysis seems to offer promising perspectives to understand how managers
link their actions in a meaningful way during their interactions with stakeholders. We suggest that the concept of the narrative identity of the manager can be used to articulate the cognitive, linguistic and conative dimension
that characterises CSR as a reflexive process. It can be fruitfully used to understand how economic, social and
environmental issues can be linked together when looking at firms as networks of safety conventions regularly
put into public discussion in the political arena.