Measuring the economic performance of socially responsible companies

This paper presents a one-dimensional exploratory study which compares the socially responsible companies included in the Spanish sustainability index, FTSE4Good Ibex, with the rest of the indices in the IBEX family. The aim is to use different economic variables to establish whether there are differences in economic performance. Parametric testing was used to study whether there are differences between the two types of companies. The results demonstrate that there are no statistically significant differences in economic performance between the two groups. The study confirms that companies with good practices are as profitable as the rest, but it also demonstrates that the economic-financial behaviour is not better as a result of being in the sustainability index.

From ‘Bad’ to ‘Mad’: Labelling and Behaviour in Peter Shaffer’s Equus

The process of ‘labelling’ (whereby labels are socially imposed on a given behaviour by a given person) is an extensive and recurrent one in our society, as proved by the labelling of behaviours and people even into the literary text. In our analysis, we will try to show how applying one of two most different labels (psychopathic or psychotic) greatly influences our understanding of the existence of ‘evil’ or moral responsibility in the deeds of a person. To such end, we will use Peter Shaffer’s play Equus (1973), which requires both the characters in the play and the spectators to decide whether Alan Strang’s terrible crime is a result of evil or of insane behaviour: whether he is ‘mad’ or simply ‘bad’. We will try to evince the current social and cultural confusion between madness and evil, and how processes of medicalization or criminalization affect our understanding of those around us and those living in the books we read.