It might be called a boycott handbook. The Council on Economic Priorities, a liberal research organization based in New York City, has put out an unusual 500-page tome titled Rating America's Corporate Conscience (Addison-Wesley; $14.95). It grades 130 major companies according to such "social" criteria as hiring minorities and avoiding investments in South Africa.
The result is a novel comparative shopping list. General Mills, maker of Wheaties, for example, beats Quaker Oats. Reason: General Mills' "generous and innovative" programs for housing and minority business in Minneapolis. But Quaker Oats' Aunt Jemima pancakes stack up higher than the Downy Flake brand, because...