Moral Talk Research Articles

When Moral Talk Becomes Profitable

Should businesses engage in moral talk when it becomes profitable? Due to their particular position of visibility, it is reasonable to acknowledge that businesses have specific moral duties. Some might argue that companies ought to help abandon morally repugnant norms by providing examples of alternative behaviors through advertisements. However, the moral talk of businesses might unexpectedly reinforce repugnant norms and increase social tensions in a polarized society. Then, the duty of the companies is not fulfilled when they engage in moral talk. In polarized societies, the positional duty of businesses implies decreasing the risk of social conflict. It is not clear how to do that, yet I argue that if businesses use moral talk with mass marketing strategies, they would strive to shape impartial moral messages aiming to find points of moral convergence among polarized moral positions, which might mitigate social polarization. I call this duty the imperative of doux commerce.

Beyond school-related learning: Parent-child homework talk as a morality building activity

Family interactions constitute an arena for children's moral development: it is indeed through ordinary talk, and shared, task-oriented activities that children are socialized into moral orders and culturally informed ways of thinking and acting. Drawing on a video-based study on the everyday life of 19 middle-class families and adopting a discourse analytic approach, the paper sheds light on the socializing function of a domestic activity: homework. We illustrate that, when it unfolds as a family activity, the issues at stake go far beyond its school-oriented goals: homework provides ‘ethical affordances’ that make relevant moral talk whereby parents introduce children to some unquestioned principles such as homework must be done neatly and it is part of the child's duties. We contend that, by participating in morally loaded homework interactions, children are socialized not only into a school-aligned cultural list concerning what is right and what is wrong about homework, but moreover into a constitutive, taken-for-granted pillar of human sociality: the moral assessability of human conduct, i.e., its being subject to evaluations informed by the ‘right vs. wrong’ category. Implications for teacher training and parent education programs are discussed in the conclusion.

Moral Grandstanding and the Norms of Moral Discourse

Abstract Moral grandstanding is the use of moral talk for self-promotion. Recent philosophical work assumes that people can often accurately identify instances of grandstanding. In contrast, we argue that people are generally unable to reliably recognize instances of grandstanding and that we are typically unjustified in judging that others are grandstanding as a result. From there we argue that, under most circumstances, to judge others as grandstanders is to fail to act with proper intellectual humility. We then examine the significance of these conclusions for moral discourse. More specifically, we propose that moral discourse should focus on others’ stated reasons and whether their actions manifest respect.

Nietzsche and Contemporary Ethics

Nietzsche and Contemporary Ethics

Adopting Moral Abolitionism

Moral error theory claims that all moral judgments are in error. Moral abolitionism is the view that the error theorist should then eliminate moral talk or judgments. This paper dis-cusses the possible effects of adopting abolitionism on lying,

The interpersonal consequences of prestige and dominance-based moral grandstanding

Moral grandstanding refers to the use of moral talk to gain status. Although moral grandstanding negatively impacts general discourse, little is known about its interpersonal consequences; in other words, how are grandstanders perceived by others? In three studies (N = 525), we examined how prestige and dominance-based moral grandstanding is associated with a range of interpersonal outcomes (Study 1 and 2: social status, morality, attraction; Study 3: positive engagement and morality), and how these effects are moderated by perceptions of hypocrisy (Study 2) and shared attitudes (Study 3). Results from these studies indicate that prestige-based moral grandstanding was associated with more positive (self and other) perceptions of status, morality, and interpersonal attraction compared to dominance-based moral grandstanding.

Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk

Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk

Resisting Unmet Expectations as Service User Ethics: Implications for Social Work

ABSTRACT This paper takes up a call from activists and scholars in Mad and Disability Studies to pay more explicit attention to resistance. Drawing on conceptualizations of predictive, normative, and ideal expectations, we describe three ways 2SLGBTQ service users who have experienced psychosis resist unmet expectations of just treatment. These include: (1) defending self-respect through resistant thinking and resentment; (2) reducing discrepancy through lowering expectations of just treatment from others; (3) and protecting selves through distrust and self-reliance. This paper makes several contributions to existing literature: It expands our understanding of the ‘everyday’ forms of resistance that service users engage in, particularly those that are ‘quiet’ and risk being missed. By paying attention to quiet forms of resistance, we come to recognize the everyday ‘moral talk’ of service users, and opportunities for collectivizing the values underpinning this talk into ethics. Supporting the creation and affirmation of these ethics is one way for social work to address the exclusion of service users from the creation of social work ethical guidelines and respect and acknowledge the legitimacy of service user knowledges, especially their developing visions of justice and moral relations.

Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk

Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk

MORAL GRANDSTANDING AS A THREAT TO FREE EXPRESSION

Abstract Moral grandstanding, or the use of moral talk for self-promotion, is a threat to free expression. When grandstanding is introduced in a public forum, several ideals of free expression are less likely to be realized. Popular views are less likely to be challenged, people are less free to entertain heterodox ideas, and the cost of changing one’s mind goes up.

Children's everyday moral conversation speaks to the emergence of obligation.

For Tomasello's proposed ontology of the human sense of moral obligation, observations of early moral language may provide useful evidence complementary to that afforded by experimental research. Extant reports of children's everyday moral talk reveal patterns of participation and content that accord with the proposal and hint at extensions addressing individual differences.

Moral grandstanding in public discourse: Status-seeking motives as a potential explanatory mechanism in predicting conflict.

Public discourse is often caustic and conflict-filled. This trend seems to be particularly evident when the content of such discourse is around moral issues (broadly defined) and when the discourse occurs on social media. Several explanatory mechanisms for such conflict have been explored in recent psychological and social-science literatures. The present work sought to examine a potentially novel explanatory mechanism defined in philosophical literature: Moral Grandstanding. According to philosophical accounts, Moral Grandstanding is the use of moral talk to seek social status. For the present work, we conducted six studies, using two undergraduate samples (Study 1, N = 361; Study 2, N = 356); a sample matched to U.S. norms for age, gender, race, income, Census region (Study 3, N = 1,063); a YouGov sample matched to U.S. demographic norms (Study 4, N = 2,000); and a brief, one-month longitudinal study of Mechanical Turk workers in the U.S. (Study 5, Baseline N = 499, follow-up n = 296), and a large, one-week YouGov sample matched to U.S. demographic norms (Baseline N = 2,519, follow-up n = 1,776). Across studies, we found initial support for the validity of Moral Grandstanding as a construct. Specifically, moral grandstanding motivation was associated with status-seeking personality traits, as well as greater political and moral conflict in daily life.

The Mahalle as Margin of the State

The neighbourhood-based battles over norms and values in the ethnically diverse as well as sexual and gendered urban landscapes of the Istanbul neighbourhood (mahalle) spaces of Tophane and Kurtuluş reflect the complexity of the current political transformations that have been shaping Turkey as a whole and Istanbul in particular before and after the 15 July 2016 coup attempt. The analysis of the mahalle as the state’s margin reflects on how public moral talk, including the notion of ‘sensitivity’ (hassasiyet), reverberates in the making of public morality in both neighbourhood spaces. This article specifically focuses on the role of rumours in mediating ideas on behaviour deemed as in/appropriate in the mahalle as ‘moral territory’ and the mundane practices of self-appointed old and new ‘guards’ of the mahalle.

Moral talk and indirect reciprocity: direct observation enables the evolution of ‘moral signals’

A prominent explanation of the evolution of altruism is ‘indirect reciprocity’ where the tracking of reputations in a population promotes altruistic outcomes. This paper investigates the conditions under which the meaning of reputation-tracking signals can co-evolve with altruistic behaviours. Previous work on this question suggests that such a co-evolution is unlikely. In our model, we introduce a mixture of direct and indirect information: individuals directly observe the actions and signals of others with some probability, rather than individuals always relying only upon information conveyed through signals. In this context, we see the co-evolution of altruism and the kind of ‘moral signals’ required for individuals to track reputation. Our interpretation of this model is that, although individuals can sometimes observe the behaviour of their fellows directly, they cannot always do so, and signals evolve to fill this gap. Although ‘can’ does not imply ‘must’—that our model can produce this co-evolution does not establish that we have found the only possible mechanism—we nonetheless consider this an interesting possibility result worthy of further investigation.

Framing morality policy issues: state legislative debates on abortion restrictions

Scholars of “morality policies” have often assumed a signature characteristic of such policies is that advocates will frame them as clashes between fundamental moral and religious principles. Recent studies of issues typically considered under the “morality policy” rubric have found that advocates often frame these issues along multiple dimensions and that they do not necessarily favor frames that emphasize moral principles over other considerations. This paper examines this issue for abortion policy. We analyze verbatim records of debates over 26 recent proposals to restrict abortion rights in the 16 states for which data are available. We found that both sides in debates over abortion restrictions framed the issue along several dimensions with no single frame dominating most of the debates. While there is some empirical support for the morality policy perspective, the frequency that advocates employed morality frames was less than we expected given the disproportionately high levels of evangelical Protestant membership in the states we examined. Rather than simply casting the debate as one over irreconcilable moral principles, the two sides’ strategies often converged by framing the issue in terms of various consequences of abortion and abortion restrictions for women. Advocates propensity to frame the issue in terms of “right to life” versus “woman’s choice” principles rose when one side or the other escalated rhetoric about “life” or “choice” principles (inducing the other to respond in kind). Our data thus conform to the logic of a game of tit-for-tat in which individuals follow a strategy of “retaliation” if their opponents frame issues in highly moralized, judgmental terms, or they “cooperate” by emphasizing how their preferred policy will promote some widely shared value (like women’s welfare or the authoritativeness of medical research). “Morality talk” was also more prevalent when the debates were about bans on abortion rather than other types of restrictions. The broad implication of our findings is that the propensity of advocates to frame issues in terms of fundamental moral principles has less to do with the general subject matter or issue area (e.g., abortion) and more to do with the context of debate and strategic considerations.

Making space for contending moral talk in criminal matters Criminal court mediation in Brooklyn, New York

This article describes in detail the rationale behind the evolution of the mediation process used in the Criminal Court Mediation Program in Brooklyn, New York. The process developed as a response to high emotion contentious conflicts in misdemeanour cases that came through the programme, in which defendants unexpectedly insisted on countering complainants’ moral assertions about fault and harm. Through the story of one case, characteristic of many that come through the programme, we describe stages of the process from intake through mediation, and highlight key components: separate, pre-mediation sessions; regular opportunities of choice for all parties; and no promises about what will be discussed in mediation, in order to support agency and bilateral moral discourse. The programme’s success is evinced by highly positive feedback from both defendants and complainants, including increased feelings of safety. We hope our experience will serve as a reference for programmes receiving similar types of cases.

Contemplative Listening in Moral Issues: Moral Counseling Redefined in Principles and Method

We present a listening grid for moral counseling, in which we pay particular attention, alongside the what, to how clients talk about themselves: as if they were spectators; aware what this talking does to them; how they perceive what is good from the past; and what they will strive for in the future. By this moral talk, clients discover a picture of the conviction that will enable them to make a decision.

The normalization of sport for older people?

ABSTRACTOpportunities for older adults in Western countries, particularly women, to participate in physically demanding, competitive sports have increased since the 1960s. Now, coinciding with the neoliberal shift in social policy, older adults live at a time when physical activity is highly encouraged through ‘healthy or active ageing’ discourses in media, policy policies and the sport/exercise sciences. This study sought to understand how 63 Masters athletes (aged 60 and over) explain their participation in sport and, in particular, the extent to which they use neoliberal language of personal moral responsibility and economic efficiency to explain their own participation and the non-participation of older adults in sport. While degrees of moral talk were evident in the older athlete responses, in almost all cases, non-participation in sport was seen as irrational and in need of explanation. Overall, our findings suggest that older people’s participation in sport has been, or at least is in the process of being, normalized among participants in Masters sport. We discuss how this changing idea about sport and ageing might reshape social policy, as well as social relationships, between older people and the state and between different groups of older people.

Supervisor Moral Talk Contagion and Trust-in-Supervisor

This message-production experiment demonstrates that supervisors can mitigate the workplace moral mum effect and encourage upward ethical dissent by talking about ethics with subordinates (i.e., moral talk contagion). Working adults ( N = 324) were randomly assigned to respond to an unethical request by their supervisor in one of five scenarios that varied by supervisor talk type and trust-in-supervisor or a baseline-control condition. Content and contingency table analyses revealed participants were twice as likely to invoke explicitly moralized upward dissent to an unethical business request from a supervisor when the supervisor was known for describing work situations in ethical terms. In addition, the V-shaped relationship between trust-in-supervisor and upward ethical dissent indicated that participants in the high- and low-trust conditions were twice as likely to engage in upward ethical dissent as those in the baseline-control condition. Implications for theory and practice conclude the essay.

Living Authentic: "Being True to Yourself" as a Contemporary Moral Ideal

From reality television and self-help literature to exhortations to be "true to yourself," authenticity pervades contemporary culture. Despite their prevalence, cultures of self-improvement and authenticity are routinely linked to arguments about increasing narcissism and declining care for others. Self-improvement involves self-based practices geared to help realise the "improved" and "better you" while authenticity is focused on developing the unique, inner and "real" you. Critiques of both self-improvement and authenticity culture are particularly evident in a sociological tradition of "cultural pessimism" (Hookway, Moral). This group of thinkers argue that the dominance of a "therapeutic" culture where the "self improved is the ultimate concern of modern culture" has catastrophic social and moral consequences (Reiff; Bell; Lasch; Bellah; Bauman and Donskis). Drawing upon Charles Taylor, I take critical aim at such assessments, arguing that ideals and practices of authenticity can be morally productive. I then turn to an empirical investigation of how everyday Australians understand and practice morality based on a qualitative analysis of 44 Australian blogs combined with 25 follow-up online in-depth interviews. I suggest that while the data shows the prevalence and significance of "being true to yourself" as an orientating principle, the bloggers produce a version of authenticity that misses the relational and socially-shaped character of self and morality (Taylor; Vannini and Williams).