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I'm looking to replace the phrase "self-centered" in the following example sentence:

The board members did not care about anything but their profits. The company was polluting the environment, but barely noticed because it was so self-centered.

The problem is, a company doesn't really have a "self". All of the thesaurus entries here: https://thesaurus.yourdictionary.com/self-centered make use of either "self" or "ego", neither of which apply very well to a company. What's a good phrase to describe a company as the opposite of society-focused or philanthropic?

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  • The premise of your question is based on a false assumption. There is no problem using self to refer to a company. As such, there is no better phrase than self-centred itself in this context.
    – Jason Bassford
    Jun 21, 2019 at 17:35

3 Answers 3

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Lexico (The Oxford Dictionaries) has entries for

exploitative
ADJECTIVE
Making use of a situation or treating others unfairly in order to gain an advantage or benefit.
Using corrupt means and intensely exploitative labour practices, they build up their own capital.

and this word

rapacious
ADJECTIVE
Aggressively greedy or grasping.
They were revealed instead as rapacious asset-strippers.

So the sentence becomes

The company was polluting the environment, but barely noticed because it was so exploitative.

or

The company was polluting the environment, but barely noticed because it was so rapacious.

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    The company in the example may indeed have been exploitative and rapacious. But neither of these words means "self-centered".
    – GEdgar
    Jun 20, 2019 at 20:21
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    @GEdgar the question is "What's a good phrase to describe a company as the opposite of society-focused or philanthropic?" During the post it moved on from the title.
    – Weather Vane
    Jun 20, 2019 at 20:22
  • Perfect, thank you very much!
    – Jake
    Jun 20, 2019 at 21:14
  • Neither exploitative nor rapacious are synonyms of self-serving
    – DJClayworth
    Jun 21, 2019 at 18:59
  • @DJClayworth as already mentioned in the comments, the question does not ask for a synonym of "self-serving". Did you read them before repeating the first one?
    – Weather Vane
    Jun 21, 2019 at 19:01
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self-serving

Having concern for one's own welfare and interests before those of others; self-seeking. The public had seen ‘nothing more than a self-serving determination to protect their vested interests’.

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There is nothing wrong with using self-centred of a company

It's common to talk about the 'self' of an organization. Here is an example referring to a company.. Companies are acknowledged to share many of the traits of human beings and it is normal to use adjectives about them in the same way as a person.

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  • I agree. There is no better phrase than the one that the question seems to want to get away from for false reasons.
    – Jason Bassford
    Jun 21, 2019 at 17:37
  • This does not answer the question and should be a comment.
    – Weather Vane
    Jun 21, 2019 at 19:06
  • it's what we call a 'frame challenge".
    – DJClayworth
    Jun 21, 2019 at 19:07
  • Yes, but I've previously answered a different question to that which was asked, on the grounds that it is a better solution than what was asked, and been downvoted. Yet now I answer the question that was asked, and get downvoted. Clearly OP didn't want to use "self-xxx" whatever the reason.
    – Weather Vane
    Jun 21, 2019 at 19:14

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