Socially responsible investing (SRI): From mainstream to margin?

This article discusses the place of ethics within socially responsible investing (SRI) and tries to understand whether the debate about the spread of SRI strategies for all asset management practices (SRI mainstreaming) is necessary for SRI development. We conclude that the mainstreaming of SRI in global investment funds has transformed the original goal of “making good” into a quest for profitability. We also add that SRI must place ethics at the center of the debate in order to regain the primary virtuous logic it had when it was still part of a “margin” or niche market.