Business Institutions play a fundamental role in ensuring and preserving the common
good of society. The underlying philosophy of global society and its institutions half a
century after the Second World War still remain largely divided between capitalism and
socialism. The capitalists seemed to have won when the ‘iron curtain’ fell in 1989. Was
this the case? Not everyone has progressed since the end of the Cold War. Since 1990
some 55 countries have had declining per capita incomes, while inequality has risen
within and between countries. It is too soon to say whether global capitalism will be
saved from itself. This thesis is a theoretical analytical attempt at providing an
assessment of business institutions from the perspective of the social common good as
understood in the Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophic tradition.
This document is a summary of the European feudal system in the medieval ages from an excerpt by: SB Clough y RT Rapp, Historia Economica de Europa. El desarrollo Económico de la Civilización Occidental, Barcelona, Omega, 1986, Cap.3.
Nancy Folbre and Julie Nelson study the shift from non‐market to market labour in the
contemporary society, of the United States of America (US). The consequences are far
reaching with regard to social care, economics and the link between the consequences
of women shifting from family and social relationship building to paid labour in the
market. The authors see this as a change in the “social contract”. The move of women,
previously responsible for the “emotional” dimension of society (child care, social
relationships, homemakers), from their traditional roles to paid jobs in the market is the
underlying issue and they describe it in a trite and dynamic phrase – “For Love or For
Money”.
A summary of Almárcegui, A. Moreno, Hombres y Mujeres: Una Visión Sociológica de sus Diferencias: El
Caso de España: en la Obra de Enciso, Agustín,“Mas Allá de la División del Trabajo: (2007):
Pamplona.