The Role of Confucian Moral Virtues in Transforming the Stigma-inducing Moral System

Abstract

This study builds theory on the role of traditional moral virtues in enabling actors to transform the stigma-inducing dominant moral system. Drawing on a longitudinal, qualitative study of early private entrepreneurship in China, the findings suggest that stigmatized actors’ continuous moral work involving both rhetoric and enactment of moral virtues can be effective in influencing the dominant moral system, which has been utilized to stigmatize them. Further, the moral work generates feeling of solidarity amongst stigmatized and elicits positive sentiments from the stigmatizers, deepening existing knowledge of audience dynamics in the stigma literature. We discuss the implication of connecting morality with stigma for the study of stigma and social progress. Key words: stigma, morality, moral virtues, qualitative research