Corporate personhood is the notion that all companies, separate from their workers, are, to some extent, treated as people in the eyes of the law and can enjoy some of the same rights and responsibilities as individual human beings can as well. This obviously has legal ramifications as companies can have the same rights and responsibilities as individual people, so they can enter into contracts with other corporations or they can sue other people or corporations. The social ramifications of this notion is that, in the eyes of the people, there is a question whether or not we should view the actions of corporations differently than the actions of individual people. Should there be a difference in the way we view the actions of corporations and individual people if the two can, to some extent, be seen in the same light in the legal world? The ethical ramifications are very similar, should corporations and individual people be viewed different with regards to the ethical aftermath of their actions.
With regards to the Muslim Registry database, I believe that workers can decide to withhold their work on a project based on their own personal moral and ethical beliefs. However, I believe that, while they may personally hold out their work on a project they do not agree with morally, it may not make an impact on the project at all. This is because the company, if they continue to believe that it is in the best interest of the company, will just find someone else that is willing to work on the project to take up that spot in the project. Overall, individual workers holding out their work will not make an impact and therefore, I believe that workers should find other ways to speak out against projects or ideas instead of holding out on working on these projects. With regards to whether or not companies should make decisions based on ethical or moral views, I believe that this should be taken into consideration, but should not be the end all be all for every decision that is made. This is because, especially publicly traded companies, companies have a responsibility to their shareholders to do what is right for the company in terms of returns to their shareholders. Now obviously I believe that companies should not do things that are extremely immoral or go against the company’s views entirely just for money, but I also do not believe that ethical and moral views should make the entire decision.
While companies and corporations are afforded the same rights as individual people, I do not believe that they should be expected to have the same exact moral and ethical responsibilities. While this is not saying that companies should have no moral and ethical responsibilities, I think that companies should have more leeway than individuals since companies have people that they need to look out for. Companies have employees, customers and shareholders that rely upon the companies and, in many cases, their livelihoods rest on how the company does. If a situation presents itself that may be in the “gray area” of ethics, but would prove a huge success for the company and the people relying upon the company, then the company must weigh these factors before making a decision. This is exactly what companies must do in the “Muslim Registry” issue. Due to the easily accessible nature of this data, this act would lie in that “gray area” and a company must weigh this before taking on a contract.