The origins of the corporate social responsibility Where did the so called doctrine of social responsibility of business arise from? What social demands did that doctrine has to face up to? Finally, under which figures had it been appearing during the first two decades of its spread? The present article deals with these questions and is intended to suggest some answers focused on the following issues: a) the social and political pressures on business throughout the Depression age; b) the search for a new social legitimation of the firm by free enterprise system as an ideological frame, and by the concept of businessman as an economic, civil, and human development leader; c) the aim to justify separation between control and property in the modern corporation behind a professional ethics adopted by the executives and the new obligations they declare the society to assume