The Calvert Social Index is a stock market index

Stock market index

A stock market index is a method of measuring a section of the stock market. Many indices are cited by news or financial services firms and are used as benchmarks, to measure the performance of portfolios such as mutual funds....

 created by Calvert Investments

Calvert Investments

Calvert Investments, Inc., established in 1976, is an investment management company that is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland and led by Barbara Krumsiek, the firm’s President and Chief Executive Officer. In addition to providing traditional investment management services, Calvert is one of the...

 as a benchmark of large companies that are considered socially responsible or ethical. It currently consists of 468 companies, weighted by market capitalization

Market capitalization

Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...

, selected from approximately 1,000 of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 using Calvert's social criteria. These criteria relate to the environment, workplace issues

Labor rights

Labor rights or workers' rights are a group of legal rights and claimed human rights having to do with labor relations between workers and their employers, usually obtained under labor and employment law. In general, these rights' debates have to do with negotiating workers' pay, benefits, and safe...

, product safety

Consumer protection

Consumer protection laws designed to ensure fair trade competition and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors and may provide additional...

, community relations, weapons contracting

Defense contractor

A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military department of a government. Products typically include military aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and electronic systems...

, international operations, and human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

.

This index was created following the success of the Domini 400 Social Index

Domini 400 Social Index

This FTSE KLD 400 Social Index was launched in 1990 and is designed to help socially conscious investors weigh social and environmental factors in their investment choices....

 by KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. The Calvert index is used by many so-called socially responsible mutual funds as a benchmark for their performance.