Ethical Self Research Articles

Establishing the Macrobehavior of Ethical Self-Control in an Arrangement of Macrocontingencies in Two Microcultures

A particular type of self-control is exercised when the conflict between immediate and delayed consequences is associated with consequences that are more favorable either for the individual or for the group. In such cases, responding under the control of delayed consequences that are favorable for the group is characteristic of ethical self-control . This study investigated the selection, maintenance and transmission of ethical self-control in an arrangement depicting a macrocontingency. Participants in two microcultures were exposed to an ABAB design in which individuals repeatedly chose a row in a colored 10 x 10 matrix. In all conditions, choosing odd-numbered rows produced three tokens that could be exchanged for money, and choosing even-numbered rows produced only one token. In B conditions, even row responses had a second effect, which was to add one item to a cumulative effect comprising school items to be donated later to a public school. Thus, in B conditions, choosing an even row exemplified ethical self control. Microcultures comprised 16-18 generations of three participants as one participant was replaced after every 20 th cycle. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of cumulative effect in the implementation and maintenance of ethical self-control responses, but only after a long exposure to the macrocontingency. The change in participants across generations may have also contributed to a longer exposure to the contingencies being required for the selection of ethical self-control responses.

Constructing and communicating an ethical consumer identity: A Social Identity Approach

In recent years the adoption of ethical criteria when making consumer decisions has gained increasing popularity and has been studied as a way of moving towards a more sustainable consumption–production paradigm. Much research has focused on what motivates people to engage in ethical consumer behaviours considered as the expression of an ethical self. However, there is a limited understanding of the construction and communication of these ethical selves. By focusing on how members of Spanish “Responsible Consumption Cooperatives” construct and communicate their ethical identities, this study sheds light on the underlying social psychological processes of ethical consumer behaviour from a Social Identity Approach. Findings from the multi-method qualitative study reveal how consumers negotiate their perceptions of ethics and respective behaviours through the construction and identification of in-groups and out-groups and communicate their shared social identity through different consumption practices, such as the deliberate avoidance of brands/symbols that embody the values of the consumerist society.

The Ethics of Self: Another Version of Confucian Ethics

My basic contention in this essay is that the proper characterization of Confucian ethics is not role-based ethics, rule-based ethics, or virtue ethics, but an ethics of the self or a self-based ethics. In essence, Confucian ethics is about how to realize a self in line with inner sagehood and outer kinghood (内圣外王); it is about how to realize a self as fully self-conscious being-for-itself of definite character, substance, and personality. Confucian ethics does not start with the assumption that there is a given self that should be made virtuous, rule-abiding, or dutiful, but starts from the assumption that a self needs to be created, developed, and realized in the ethical life while the potentiality of building a self is given.

Embodying Law in the Garden: An Autoethnographic Account of an Office of Law

Based on an autoethnographical study of the office of the tingsnotarie this article questions the relation between the ethical self and the act of taking up a judicial office, employing the question of how I can live with (my) law. While the office and the ethical self are kept apart, often by recourse to persona, I make a case for the attendance to the self in examinations of ethical responsibility when pursuing an office of law. I propose that the garden, and in particular the practices and notions of (en)closure, (loss of) direction, cultivation, (dis)order, authorship and carefor-the-other which are all part of the gardener’s everyday life and vocation, offers critical insights when thinking through the embodiment of law and the relationship between the ethical self and the office.

Bonhoeffer's notion of maturity and the possibility of redemption

This article discusses implications of Bonhoeffer's notion of maturity (being of age), particularly for the notion of redemption and the ethical self. This is done through a reading of the relation between maturity and redemption in Kant, Nietzsche, and Levinas, which again is compared with Bonhoeffer's late thought as we find it in his Prison letters and his Ethics. All three philosophers share with Bonhoeffer the important premise that otherworldly redemption is downplayed to the benefit of a strong demand put on the self. At the same time, their notions of maturity show important differences, with subsequent consequences for their notions of redemption; Kant's notion is based on ethical autonomy, Nietzsche's on aesthetical autonomy, whereas Levinas presupposes ethical heteronomy. The reading of Bonhoeffer shows that he shares premises with all three thinkers, but particularly with Levinas. This is shown in the analyses of religionless Christianity as a turn to the practical dimension of faith, in the messianic structure of the ethical self, and in the turn to the Old-Testamently and the arcane discipline. Bonhoeffer's high estimation of the worldly and the aesthetic, however, also illustrates his affinities to Nietzsche.

Frantz Fanon and the Challenge of Political Theory

This paper analyzes Frantz Fanon’s four books, Black Skin, White Masks, A Dying Colonialism, The Wretched of the Earth, and Toward the African Revolution, as ethical prescriptions for how colonized societies (especially Algeria) organize in a collective, democratic fashion throughout the process of decolonization. Scholars like Hussein M. Adam have argued that Fanon advocated a radical democratic approach to decolonization; however, I take this analysis a step further by focusing on the moral implications of Fanon’s writings in regards to decolonization. I argue that Fanon’s basic concern was not simply with defeating colonialism and uprooting its political-economic structures, but also with creating and renewing an ethical self through praxis, corresponding to an axiology that can be described as a de-centered social democracy. Another part of my argument is to bring out the tensions and challenges that theorists like Fanon contribute to the field of political theory. Fanon is part of what Cedric Robinson calls the “black radical tradition” which challenges the traditional canon of European political thought. Black radicalism is a transnational movement that has its roots in Western European capitalist expansion and slavery, which is part of the larger experience of the African Diaspora. Fanon’s writings are not simple appropriations of Marxist theory but rather reflections on lived experiences. Thus, like W.E.B. Du Bois Fanon is not merely a supplement to the Western canon of political theory but rather challenges our notion of what counts as political theory. Fanon demonstrates the political significance of Algerian (and African) resistance to French colonialism by showing that their actions were not merely a reaction to European oppression but a significant movement where they possessed agency as political actors. By resisting French colonialism they were simultaneously constructing a political system based on their own history and culture. This does not mean it would necessarily be one that is diametrically opposed to all European thought but one that does not have to always refer to Europe for their political existence.

Playmates and Polygamists

This paper explores the feminine reclamation of polygamy seen in female-oriented American television shows Big Love, The Girls Next Door, and Sister Wives in terms of their commentary on contemporary gender roles in neoliberal society. Reception discourses suggest these programs respond to feminine frustrations with the burdens of work and domesticity and the isolation associated with hyper-individualist late capitalist society. Using textual strategies associated with feminine media forms and contemporary feminine culture, such as the investment in the female group, the female gaze at the female body, and the reclamation of feminine history, these shows demonstrate femininity's capacity to critique as well as support mainstream society. Still, femininity's tendency to merge escapism and cultural critique, seen in all three shows, points to the difficulty of considering it progressive or regressive, instead suggesting that it should be considered as a different conceptual and social space, as a varied set of structures, practices, reading protocols, and an ethics of self that patriarchal cultures cannot easily co-opt.

Effect of the Contemporary Global Variables on the Self-Concept of the Physical Education Faculties' Students in the Jordanian Universities

This study aimed at identifying the effect of the contemporary global variables on the self-concept of the physical education faculties' students in the Jordanian Universities according to gender, family monthly income, student's education level and student's accumulative average. The study sample consisted of (700) male and female students of those who were enrolled in the first semester of the academic year 2011/2012. The study sample was selected through the stratified random method, and Tennessee self-concept scale. The study concluded to There are statistically significant differences between male and female student in dimensions self concept: ethical self, familial self, social self, behavior, personal self, self-criticism, identity, physical self and self acceptance.

The Play of Ethics in Eugen Fink

��� Central to Eugen Fink’s distinctive understanding of the context of ethical engagement is his way of thinking about being in the world. From Fink’s perspective we can see that Western metaphysics, and contemporary philosophical ethics, has forgotten the world. In its attempt to achieve objectivity, metaphysics has sought a vantage point that could be a view from nowhere. If the world is remembered, it is misconstrued to be a mere frame or container for objects and experiences. This has led to a conception of the ethical subject as a rational, autonomous individual who merely happens to be in the world. In failing to consider the meaning of being in the world, philosophy has rendered ethics nihilistic. Fink seeks to radicalize understanding the world and thus to radicalize the ethical subject as being in the world. For Fink, ethics is fundamentally situated, communal, and playful rather than merely rational. To be ethical requires knowing where we stand in the world, thus requiring being both in relation with others and open to the world. In this openness we are neither merely passive nor masters over our lives but, rather, active participants in the play of the world. Fink maps contours of situated human experience that must be included in discussions of ethics. I suggest that by emphasizing play, Fink allows for a more complex picture of the ethical self as characterized by playful openness and so accounts for one being in the world and

The Play of Ethics in Eugen Fink

The Play of Ethics in Eugen Fink

The influence of ethical values and food choice motivations on intentions to purchase sustainably sourced foods

This study examined a three-step adaptation of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) applied to the intention of consumers to purchase sustainably sourced food. The sample consisted of 137 participants, of which 109 were female, who were recruited through a farmers market and an organic produce outlet in an Australian capital city. Participants completed an online questionnaire containing the TPB scales of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and intention; measures of positive moral attitude and ethical self identity; and food choice motives. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to examine the predictive utility of the TPB in isolation (step 1) and the TPB expanded to include the constructs of moral attitude and ethical self-identity (step 2). The results indicated the expansion of the TPB to include these constructs added significantly to the predictive model measuring intention to purchase sustainably sourced food. The third step in the adaptation utilised this expanded TPB model and added a measure of retail channel (where consumers reported buying fresh produce) and 9 food choice motives, in order to assess the predictive utility of the inclusion of choice motivations in this context. Of the 8 food choice motives examined, only health and ethical values significantly predicted intention to purchase sustainably sourced food. However, with the addition of food choice motives, ethical self-identity was no longer a significant predictor of intention to purchase sustainably sourced food. Overall the adapted TPB model explained 76% of the variance in intention to purchase sustainably sourced food.

Blogging Homelessness: Technology of the Self or Practice of Freedom?

This article analyzes a blog written by a man who describes himself as having been in and out of homelessness and addictions over a long period of time. I use Foucault’s ideas about governmentality and technologies of the self to explore the material on this blog and to suggest that the blog is not only a technology of the self through which power is exercised but also a practice of freedom and a means to ethical of care of the self. I propose a complex dialectic between domination and liberation as the writer transforms a disciplinary practice through which power is exerted into a call for the construction of an ethical self by writing regularly for his audience of readers and followers.

Por una reforma ética del sistema financiero

El sistema financiero se encuentra en entredicho a raíz de la situación de crisis financiera actual por su falta de comportamiento ético. A partir de los principales conflictos éticos que en él se producen, se analiza si los cambios regulatorios promovidos en España en los últimos años, en especial tras los períodos de crisis bancaria, pretenden avanzar hacia una mayor ética financiera, y si se ha producido una mayor autorregulación ética de las entidades bancarias. De igual modo, se estudian las experiencias éticas tanto institucionales como operativas en nuestro país; y la tendencia que se vislumbra de nuestro sistema financiero en este ámbito con los cambios que se están produciendo a nivel nacional e internacional.

Emotions and Ethics: A Foucauldian framework for becoming an ethical educator

This paper provides examples of how a teacher and a principal construct their ‘ethical selves’. In doing so we demonstrate how Foucault's four‐part ethical framework can be a scaffold with which to actively connect emotions to a personal ethical position. We argue that ethical work is and should be an ongoing and dynamic life long process rather than a more rigid adherence to a ‘code of ethics’ that may not meaningfully engage its adherents. We use Foucault's four‐part framework of ethical practice as a framework through which an ‘ethical self’ can be purposely constructed. This is important work, as those who have authority over others must know how to monitor themselves against the misuse of the power of their positions.

Islam, Economic Globalization, and the Blended Ethics of Self

With its four decades of economic growth and its booming middle class, Indonesia has become something of a paradigmatic case in research on Islam, economic globalization, and blended subjectivity. As the literature under review confirms, Indonesia’s Muslim middle class is the world’s most avid consumer of “Islamic” self-help and life-coaching literature. Although Indonesia’s lifestyle coaches agree in emphasizingmoral connection and the ethical use of wealth, they disagree on the precise sources and principles of Islamic ethics. The disagreement is illustrative of a broader debate taking place around the world over Islam, religious authority, economic globalization, and the making of ethical selves.

‘Being while black’: resistance and the management of the self

‘Being while black’ is ultimately an ‘everyday revolution’, Despite the fact that people manage their selves by their own choosing, especially as their desires are being shaped (Foucault, 1977), their selves remains the basic revolutionary unit. Foucault's oeuvre on power and concept of dressage is utilized to explain racial profiling of blacks of what I call ‘racial dressage’, intended primarily to discipline the ‘black body’ (el-Khoury, 2009). In this paper, I argue that despite this false sense of presence of power and internalized social-control, blacks actively construct their day-to-day activities as a discursive object of resistance. Critical awareness to racial oppression is in itself is a form of opposition to it (Collins, 1990). I argue that social control and resistance are coproduced. Using discursive analysis of interviews I identified the following modes of resistance: disposition to steadiness (constituting an ethical self, sustaining an internal dialogue, and emotional management), rejecting criminalizing identities, discursive consciousness, refusing the spatial power, and lastly disbelief in the system. Ultimately, blacks live against ‘themselves’ and this is because the soul that has become the prison of the body, is being dismantled (Luxon, 2008).

Business ethics and workplaceguanxiin Chinese SOEs: a qualitative study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese employees' perceptions on their ethical decision making in relation to the workplace guanxi context in state‐owned enterprises (SOE).Design/methodology/approach – Using a qualitative method, two rounds of interviews were conducted with 18 participants in two SOEs “to explore Chinese employees” ethical perceptions and experiences in the workplace. A qualitative thematic strategy was adopted to analyze and interpret the data.Findings – The authors identified three major themes on SOE employees ethical decision making in relation to workplace guanxi: the ethical self; malleable ethical standards; and submission to authority. The authors derived a conceptual framework to outline the relationship between the invisible hand of guanxi and the SOE employees' ethical decision making.Originality/value – The paper contributes to the business ethics literature by presenting a three‐dimensional profile and a conceptual framework for Chinese business ethics rese...

Fair Trade Tourism South Africa: consumer virtue or moral selving?

The academic focus on tourism impacts has raised questions regarding stakeholder responsibility. From a consumption perspective, many ethical consumers, by enacting their political and moral concerns through their consumer choice demonstrate their virtuous qualities and at the same time construct themselves as ethical. Ethical consumption and the consumption of Fairtrade, Fair Trade Tourism and Fair Trade Tourism South Africa (FTTSA) – which derived from Pro-Poor Tourism and ecotourism principles –, are embedded into a cultural context of global consumer capitalism. This macro discourse informs the way people think about the extent of their responsibility, what constitutes a fair exchange, and how they construct themselves as ethical consumers. Ethical consumption, although virtuous can then be described as a form of conspicuous consumption because consumption in its self is a hedonistic act especially when one uses ethical consumption as a mechanism to demonstrate one's ‘ethical self’. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with eleven FTTSA travellers in December–February of 2009 at two FTTSA businesses. The paper employed Critical Discourse Analysis to explore some of the tensions between consumer virtue and the hedonistic behaviours of the informants. The aim of this paper is to investigate the notion of moral selving in the context of ethical travel and in particular FTTSA. Results revealed that motivations for participation in ethical consumption and travel are varied and sometimes influenced by the appeal of moral selving.

Dwie koncepcje moralności

Oceny moralnej postępowania można dokonywać z dwóch różnych punktów widzenia. Jeden styl oceniania można nazwać „etyką uniwersalną” lub „etyką czystego sumienia”. Drugi styl można nazwać„partykularyzmem etycznym” czyli „etyką samokontroli.” Etyka pierwszego rodzaju zazwyczaj wykorzystuje pojęcia takie jak obowiązek, błąd, odpowiedzialność, wstyd, kara, pokuta, przebaczenie. Etyka drugiego rodzaju zwykle używa pojęć takich jak przywiązanie, niepowodzenie, ponoszenie odpowiedzialności, obwinianie, żal, poprawa, naprawienie szkód, zapomnienie. W etyce uniwersalnej obowiązki są czymś rzeczywistym i niezależnym. W tym sensie jest ona absolutystyczna. Co prawda etyka partykularystyczna również uznaje niektóre obowiązki za naturalne i bezwarunkowe, lecz są to głównie obowiązki wobec własnych dzieci lub rodziców, współmałżonków czy współplemieńców, a nie obowiązki wobec całego świata lub wszystkich jednostek ludzkich. Etyka partykularyzmu rozumie obowiązki w świetle konkretnych relacji między jednostkami, ról społecznych lub zawodowych, dobrowolnie zaciągniętych zobowiązań. Etyka uniwersalistyczna brzmi sztucznie i retorycznie we wspólnocie jednostek, które darzą się wzajemnym szacunkiem, są zdolne do otwartego porozumiewania się z jednostkami proponującymi niepopularne punkty widzenia, są tolerancyjni i akceptują pluralizm opinii. Z drugiej strony hierarchiczna wspólnota mocno wspierająca przyjęty porządek społeczny i moralny, wroga jednostkom, które podkreślają swoje przekonania, nie może zaakceptować etyki pluralizmu bez utraty swej spoistości i funkcjonalności. Wybór między tymi dwoma rodzajami etyki jest przeto trudny w społeczeństwie, któremu brak wspólnych standardów tolerancji i która zachowuje hierarchię społeczną autorytetu, który uległ erozji.

Re-thinking the relationship between self and other: Levinas and narratives of beautifying the body

In the consumer research literature, the automatic consideration of one’s knowledge of self in the evaluation of others is taken for granted. The ‘idea of the other’ — which the authors here term ‘representational subjectivity’ — is at the heart of consumer decisions. Philosopher Emanuel Levinas suggests another path: the concrete relation to the other person is the basis of subjectivity. He makes the distinction between ‘other’ (as in environment and things) and ‘Others’ as in persons. Affective subjectivity arises in the enjoyment of things around an individual and precedes representation. Ethical subjectivity makes an individual realize that not everything can be assimilated to the self. It is in this moment that ethical subjectivity is realized. The authors explain these themes in the realm of beauty, a domain where ongoing moral judgments are made. The authors offer a correction to the taken-for-granted relationship between the self and the other with a focus on the pre-reflective affective self and the ethical self, each of which is shaken out of its complacency with the appearance of another person.