Souza Cruz: history and contemporary ideology on social responsibility

Abstract

This article is based on a research which conducted a study about the history of Souza Cruz since its beginning that goes from 1903 until 2007. The specific objective was to analyze the historical sense of the ideology of the company on social responsibility and its ambiguities, inserted into social projects of the company. The theoretical-epistemological perspective combined the paradigm of the complexity with the approach of critical studies. The research was documentary and bibliographic. This article aims to contribute with the Brazilian public administration regarding the knowledge about the complex relationships among the tobacco industry, environmental effects and public health. This study concluded that the complementarity between the paradigm of the complexity and the approach of critical studies demonstrates that the ideology of Souza Cruz about social responsibility is inserted between the stockholders' theory and the stakeholders' theory, in an ambivalent way, and that both are part of the paradigm of simplification (marked by reductionism and fragmentation).