Moral Predispositions Research Articles

Rhetoric, reason and rationality: the national minimum wage debate and the UK hospitality industry

This paper examines the rhetorical strategies employed in arguments both ‘for’ and ‘against’ national minimum wages. The issues are explored quite specifically in the UK context with reference to the hospitality industry. A key aspect of debates about the merits of a national minimum wage derive from economic studies which for the most part demonstrate either a positive or negative effect to a national minimum wage. The general lack of consensus of these studies has not prevented the deployment of research findings in the rhetorical strategies of non-economists engaged in lobbying for or against a national minimum wage. Illustrating this point with reference to the UK hospitality industry context, it is argued that like the cumulative evidence of economic research, such strategies are flawed, making moral predispositions rather than rational choices the only basis on which to predicate arguments about the desirability or otherwise of a national minimum wage.

Nevil Shute and the Decline of the Imperial Idea' In Literature

After John Buchan, Nevil Shute. In the long progression of popular British writers who have woven stories around the social facts and cultural values of empire, a progression which extends from Charles Kingsley and G. A. Henty through Paul Scott and, arguably, Ian Fleming, Nevil Shute occupies a distinguishable and important place. Both in his own right and as a representative figure he deserves analysis on account of his part in the literary re-statement of what has fairly been called the ‘imperial idea,’ that matrix of assumptions, beliefs, and attitudes which had sustained and rationalized the endeavors of several generations of politicians, publicists, and civil servants, but whose relevance to Great Britain's circumstances after the Second World War was increasingly open to doubt. This essay offers the elements of such an analysis and suggests some lines along which further inquiry might proceed.For at least a decade before his death in January 1960, Nevil Shute had been the best selling of English novelists. Altogether, his nearly two dozen works of light fiction have sold over 14 million copies. When he died his books were earning him an income of about $175,000 a year. Such extended popularity can hardly have been fortuitous. Without venturing too far into the psychology of literary response, it seems reasonable to conclude that Shute must have gauged accurately the issues and situations which, imaginatively presented, would interest his readers, and further, that he must have expressed in his work a pattern of values which conformed generally to their moral predispositions (or at least did not offend them.) Hence it should prove worthwhile to take a close and comprehensive look at his themes and ideas on the premise that they can tell us something useful about his audience.

Moral Predisposition and Hypnotic Influence of “Immoral” Behavior: An Exploratory Study

Abstract The power of hypnosis to coerce “immoral” behavior was investigated among 24 susceptible college students. It was prehypnotically determined that 12 Ss were morally opposed to calling someone a “dirty son of a bitch” while the remaining 12 were not. After two neutral sessions of hypnotic training each S of each moral orientation was placed in one of the following three groups: (a) hypnosis with posthypnotic amnesia, (b) hypnosis without posthypnotic amnesia, or (c) waking. In a subsequent session all Ss were given the posthypnotic (or waking) suggestion to call a confederate intruder by the objectionable term. Only one of the morally opposed Ss did so while 6 of 12 not opposed complied (p < .05, one-tailed). The results suggest that the variable of moral predisposition toward an objectionable act is more powerful than hypnotic influence. Further research was suggested because of interpretative difficulties and contradictory findings in this field.