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| POLITICS, ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS
seen or recognised by others, enters the constitution of self-identity in a fundamental sense. ‘Human integrity’,
argues Axel Honneth, ‘owes its existence, at a deep level, to the patterns of approval and recognition.’
Socially and politically, the idea of recognition has come to be associated with feelings people nurture
in modern liberal democracies, wherein they pride themselves on being little more than equal citizens
and therefore expect to be publicly recognised only as such. Democracy has ushered in a politics of equal
recognition. Recognition of every individual’s uniqueness and humanity lies at the core of liberal democracy,
understood as a way of personal and political ...