Different organizations and the social license

As discussed earlier in this book, not all organizations are part of the social contract in Hobbesian or Lockean terms. In other words, they do not represent the consent of the people in terms of the defense of their interests and their rights. For example, you would not look to your local supermarket to defend your human rights, not unless they have diversified into legal services (which some undoubtedly have). Rather, you would look to your government or the legal system it had created. However, you would expect any business to respect your human rights—to not infringe them. In other words, during your whole shopping experience, your entire relationship with the business in question, there should be no negative impact on your human rights. Most members of the public would not see this relationship in human rights terms. They would understand it as “consumer rights”—including issues such as data protection (right to privacy), good labeling (right to information), and protection from being poisoned (right to health). The global standard of non-infringement, of respecting human rights, is now a global standard for all businesses worldwide, and can be taken to be our benchmark for all types of non-state actor.