Business Notes CONSUMERISM

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 Downy's manufacturer, IC Industries, is a defense contractor.