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Two Kinds of Profit
Farmer, Richard N.
8/2  (Winter 1965): 21-28

It is not new to point out that in many circles and societies private enterprise has a negative image. Such enterprise brings to mind the term "profit-making firm" and this phrase reeks of moral disapproval. Entire societies have socialized virtually all productive enterprise, arguing in effect that it is immoral for individuals to take profits. Even in the United States, the term "nonprofit corporation" connotes an organization devoted to good works, such as a hospital, museum, or symphony orchestra, with the countering (and seldom-expressed) implication being that a profit-making organization must somehow be engaged in dubious-if not downright immoral-activities. U.S. businessmen, both here and abroad, are frequently on the defensive about their profit-taking activities. Abroad, the expressed local opinion is that in this society, profit taking is tolerated only as long as some better substitute cannot be devised. Countries as diverse as the Soviet Union, Egypt, India, Burma and England have expressed a dim view toward the profit taker as a useful fulfiller of a necessary social function.

 

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