Ethics in Practice

As the 1990s overtake us, public interest in ethics is at a historic high. While the press calls attention to blatant derelictions on Wall Street, in the defense industry, and in the Pentagon, and to questionable activities in the White House, in the attorney general’s office, and in Congress, observers wonder whether our society is sicker than usual. Probably not. The standards applied to corporate behavior have risen over time, and that has raised the average rectitude of businesspersons and politicians both. It has been a long time since we could say with Mark Twain that we have the best Senate money can buy or agree with muckrakers like Upton Sinclair that our large companies are the fiefdoms of robber barons. But illegal and unethical behavior persists, even as efforts to expose it often succeed in making its rewards short-lived.