If an enterprise not only undertakes legal and economic obligations, but also undertakes the obligation of "pursuing long-term goals that are beneficial to society," we say that the enterprise is socially responsible.

Social responsibility includes corporate environmental protection, safe production, social ethics, and public interest, and consists of economic responsibility, sustainable development responsibility, legal responsibility and moral responsibility. This not only refers to corporate responsibility, but also other social responsibilities.

Social responsibility is the responsibility of individuals to society as a whole stipulated in social law and economic law. It is a dual structure system composed of role obligations and legal responsibilities. Responsibilities are divided into two types: the first one refers to the things that should be done within their duties, such as duties, due diligence, and post responsibilities. This kind of responsibility is actually a kind of role obligation responsibility or expected responsibility. The second is to bear certain forms of adverse consequences or mandatory obligations due to failure to do well (failure to perform the role obligations) or failure to perform the obligation of facilitating, that is, past liabilities, such as liability for breach of contract, liability for tort, etc.

Social responsibility can be divided into "positive responsibility" and "negative responsibility". Positive responsibility is also called expected social responsibility, which requires individuals to take positive actions to promote the consequences of the society (unspecified majority) or prevent the occurrence of bad results. Negative liability, or past liability or legal liability, only requires remedy when an individual's actions have harmful consequences to society.

The social responsibility proposed in the 2011 China Corporate Social Responsibility Report of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences refers to the evaluation of the development level of corporate social responsibility from four aspects: responsibility management, market responsibility, social responsibility and environmental responsibility.

The indicator of responsibility management refers to the corporate social responsibility development plan, anti-commercial bribery system and measures formulated by an enterprise.

Market responsibility refers to indicators such as the growth, profitability, and product qualification rate of an enterprise.

Social responsibility includes social security coverage, safety and health training, and evaluation of the impact of operations on the company.

Environmental responsibility includes the company's environmental management and energy saving and emission reduction indicators.

But in fact, this statement is not perfect. In Li Youhuan, Wen Zhifang’s translation of "Interpretation of International Standard ISO 26000" shows that on November 1, 2010, the Geneva International Conference Center in Switzerland brought the gospel to people all over the world, with the theme of "Share Responsibility, Achieve Sustainable Development The official release of the ISO 26000 "Social Responsibility Guidelines and Standards" has solved the confusion in social responsibility in academia, business, politics, and even in various fields around the world.

It is generally believed that social responsibility is to assume responsibility in a popular sense. Enterprises should bear economic, legal, and moral responsibilities, but these responsibilities are only part of the responsibilities described in ISO26000.