Like Andrew Carnegie Walking Through the Factory...

Is society experiencing a change in social attitudes that transcends the interests of private corporations? Are businesses adapting with the growing concerns (environmental, disparities, etc.) of the lower and middle class Americans, and fostering a new era of "gentler capitalism?" This article in the LA Times seems to think so.

I'm not even going to attempt to share my thoughts on this since they would not even come close to the eloquence of Mark Thoma's words:

To the extent that there is a big change happening, it seems to me that the shifts in the past described above were driven in large part by economics, e.g. corporations giving in or promoting particular legislation to avoid solutions that would be much more costly to them. Thus, it really was concern about the bottom line that was the driving force behind the change. In that respect, you have to wonder how much of today's corporate and philanthropic concern over global warming and and other such issues is really an attempt by corporations to avoid potentially more costly solutions being imposed upon them, or an attempt by the wealthy to avoid a political backlash that would result in much higher tax rates. But, maybe I'm too cynical and there really is a different type of corporation or powerful individual beginning to emerge in response to a shift in social values. In the end, though, count me as skeptical. I'll be happy to be wrong, but I'll believe it when I see it as a general phenomena rather than just through a few high profile cases.