Spatial imagery in extractive capitalism: form and strength in corporate social responsibility diagrams

Abstract

In the contemporary capitalism of flows, companies that strongly depend on territorial resources adopt social private policies so as to ensure the spatial insertion of their projects. In order to preserve their reputation, they also take part in a dispute for the legitimate representation of social space through the growing use of the visual instrument of diagrams. From among the corporate uses of diagrams, two types will be discussed herein. Whereas “corporate social responsibility” diagrams presuppose a harmonic space of partnership and cooperation, social risk mapping reveals the presence of dissensus and threats to the business climate. The text makes a critical reading of the business management literature and the diagrammatic material that composes it, and discusses diagrams published in the sustainability and corporate social responsibility reports of large corporations in the mineral extractive sector.

Keywords:
Diagrams; Corporate Social Responsibility; Risk Mapping; Capitalism of Flows; Extractive Industry