Based on the concept of sustainable development and in particular its social aspects, corporate social responsibility increasingly has come into focus of the Danish construction industry. It has resulted in a pressure of formalization towards the construction companies and their own practice of social responsibility.
This master thesis ‘Social Responsibility in the Construction Industry’ addresses the question of the relation between formalization and the existing practice, with the overall problem definition: How do contractors manage the general societal expectations for social responsibility in the construction industry, when exposed to a formalization pressure?
This master thesis examines the background to why an organization decides to work with the concept of CSR, how CSR is translated and communicated internally as well as the influence of CSR on the existing practice of social responsibility.
Based on Bourdieu's practice theory, this master thesis examines the construction industry through a single case study. Through field analysis, the term habitus is used to explain how the social values are embedded in a single company’s employees’ and how their personal and professional development is affected. In addition, Bourdieu’s term capital identifies the social, cultural and economic capitals that exist among the industry and its players.
Among other things, the study shows that the increasing formalization pressure has not yet affected the contractor, which so far has managed to articulate CSR from the company’s own existing values. Finally, we relate the analysis outcomes to the society's general neglect of the bodily embedded knowledge and how it differs from the knowledge society.