The Modern Age was characterized by a great intellectual movement; Reason became the center of everything, the rights of man appeared and with these slavery ceased to exist; Therefore "one of the main obligations of social actors was to defend freedom and promote human rights"[2]​ In addition, the State was given responsibility with individuals and with demanding compliance with the social rules of the time.

Thus, for example, Stoicism places emphasis on civic duties, social responsibility, the importance of good law and equal citizenship rights. One of its great representatives, Cicero, in the first book of “The Duties”, talks about the duties that man has towards society and towards himself and proposes that there is only one true law. This law is right reason, which, according to nature, governs all men, is eternal and does not change. It drives men to fulfill their duties, prohibiting them from doing evil.[3]​.

After this came the Contemporary Age, where technology and scientific advance predominate, every day it is easier to access information, it is necessary to accumulate goods to have a better quality of life; "values ​​such as efficiency and effectiveness, positive attitudes toward commitment, compliance, a good education, as well as communication and negotiation skills empower people to be a productive part of society."[2] These behaviors become a responsibility for society; The State is no longer the most important thing, now companies have power, since the market is what predominates.

It is notorious that as time passes, social responsibility changes; what was good for some times later became a crime and vice versa, people have the obligation to be responsible to society morally and legally, regardless of whether they disagree; It should be noted that the rules of conduct are determined by the entity that has the most power at the time, such as the church, the State, companies, among others; They determine the accepted rules according to the situation in which one lives.

Currently, social responsibility is considered a non-binding regulatory concept or “soft law” (that is, without the force of law), such as those embodied in some international agreements), for example, the “Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights” adopted by UNESCO[4]​ etc.[5]​.

This has given rise not only to different attempts or “sectoral” perceptions to establish mechanisms of “social responsibility” - the most notable among which are those referring to corporate social responsibility or “corporate social responsibility” (CSR)[6]​[7]​- but to new proposals about the institutional implications of the concept.[8]​.

Notable among these new perceptions is that of Claus Offe, for whom social responsibility has, as its main function in complex modern societies, acting as a mechanism for the creation and promotion of an “autonomous morality and civilized self-control of its members or, to put it the other way around, to the extent that they cannot sufficiently compensate for the deficits of such self-control with the contribution of the ([coercive] means of law and (stimulating) means of money.[9]​.

The Modern Age was characterized by a great intellectual movement; Reason became the center of everything, the rights of man appeared and with these slavery ceased to exist; Therefore "one of the main obligations of social actors was to defend freedom and promote human rights"[2]​ In addition, the State was given responsibility with individuals and with demanding compliance with the social rules of the time.

Thus, for example, Stoicism places emphasis on civic duties, social responsibility, the importance of good law and equal citizenship rights. One of its great representatives, Cicero, in the first book of “The Duties”, talks about the duties that man has towards society and towards himself and proposes that there is only one true law. This law is right reason, which, according to nature, governs all men, is eternal and does not change. It drives men to fulfill their duties, prohibiting them from doing evil.[3]​.

After this came the Contemporary Age, where technology and scientific advance predominate, every day it is easier to access information, it is necessary to accumulate goods to have a better quality of life; "values ​​such as efficiency and effectiveness, positive attitudes toward commitment, compliance, a good education, as well as communication and negotiation skills empower people to be a productive part of society."[2] These behaviors become a responsibility for society; The State is no longer the most important thing, now companies have power, since the market is what predominates.

It is notorious that as time passes, social responsibility changes; what was good for some times later became a crime and vice versa, people have the obligation to be responsible to society morally and legally, regardless of whether they disagree; It should be noted that the rules of conduct are determined by the entity that has the most power at the time, such as the church, the State, companies, among others; They determine the accepted rules according to the situation in which one lives.

Currently, social responsibility is considered a non-binding regulatory concept or “soft law” (that is, without the force of law), such as those embodied in some international agreements), for example, the “Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights” adopted by UNESCO[4]​ etc.[5]​.

This has given rise not only to different attempts or “sectoral” perceptions to establish mechanisms of “social responsibility” - the most notable among which are those referring to corporate social responsibility or “corporate social responsibility” (CSR)[6]​[7]​- but to new proposals about the institutional implications of the concept.[8]​.

Notable among these new perceptions is that of Claus Offe, for whom social responsibility has, as its main function in complex modern societies, acting as a mechanism for the creation and promotion of an “autonomous morality and civilized self-control of its members or, to put it the other way around, to the extent that they cannot sufficiently compensate for the deficits of such self-control with the contribution of the ([coercive] means of law and (stimulating) means of money.[9]​.