Sociology Of Morality Research Articles

Culture, Coercion, and Compliance

Why do some people comply with their obligation to pay taxes while others do not? Scholars of tax behavior, particularly economists and political scientists, have relied on models of state coercion and state reciprocity to answer this question. Neither state coercion nor state reciprocity, however, sufficiently account for individuals who voluntarily comply with their tax obligations to the state. We offer a third explanation, derived from the new sociology of morality and moral psychology, suggesting that two types of moral attitudes (moral imperatives and moral alignment) affect tax compliance. Using a factorial survey experiment of income tax evasion (failure to report cash payments) and a survey questionnaire administered to a nationally representative random sample of U.S. adults, we provide a systematic test of the three different models of tax compliance. The results yield strong support for moral attitudes (both moral imperatives and moral alignment) and state coercion, but little support for state reciprocity. We review the implications of our findings in the discussion and conclusion.

Professional ethics in the context of the sociology of professions: a review of international conceptions

The article presents an analysis of selected concepts of professional ethics including the char¬acteristic of the understanding professional moral in varying approaches in sociology of professions with an emphasis on the development of the Durkheimian perspective and key concepts of professionalism. Also in this article the explication of the concepts of ethical knowledge is given, that is important in the context of the overviewing practical problems of the ethical behavior of professionals with reference to the latest re¬search in the disciplinary field of the sociology of morality. The question of the correlation of universal ethical principles and the actual normative components of professional work is unresolved. The topic of what the formalized principles of professional ethics are - do they serve as a simple ideological shell for justifying the high social status of certain professions, and how they relate to everyday practice of decision-making and to what extent they interact with the phronetic basis of the actions of specialists.

Sociology as Moral Philosophy (and Vice Versa).

In this article, I want to make an attempt to reconnect sociology to moral philosophy and moral philosophy to sociology. The thesis I want to defend is that sociology continues by other means the venerable tradition of practical and moral philosophy. Like its forebears, it stands and falls with a defense of "practical wisdom" (Aristotle) and "practical reason" (Kant). The development of a moral sociology presupposes, however, that one recognizes and rejects Max Weber's theory of axiological neutrality as an extremist position and that one carefully articulates prescriptive and descriptive, internal and external, as well as observer and actor positions.

Sociology as Practical Philosophy and Moral Science

The philosophical assumptions that organize moral sociology as practical philosophy are the outcome of a secular quest to investigate the principles, norms and values behind the constitution of society. As a protracted response to the whole utilitarian-atomistic-individualistic tradition that systematically deemphasizes the constitutive role that morality plays in the structuration of self and society, the sociological tradition has continued, by its own means, the tradition of moral and practical philosophy in theoretically informed empirical research of social practices. Going back to classic moral philosophy, I want to show in this article how social theory is involved in the quest for ‘the good life with and for the others in just institutions’ (Ricoeur).

Zygmunt Bauman’s moral saint

Zygmunt Bauman’s sociology of morality signals an important new direction from the orthodoxy of Emile Durkheim’s ‘society’ realised ethics. The first part of this paper defends Bauman’s postmodern position as valuable in theorising the moral present, offering a sociological conception of the sources, strategies and experience of contemporary morality. The paper then shifts to a critique of Bauman’s social theory of ‘being for the other’, arguing that it misses the particular and embodied aspects of moral sociality and effaces the self in endless responsibility to the Other. It is suggested that a sociology of morality is needed which goes beyond Bauman’s moral saint and provides conceptual space to theorise the self and cultures of authenticity and self-fulfilment.

The poverty of Critical Theory in International Relations: Habermas, Linklater and the failings of cosmopolitan critique

Within and outside of the discipline of International Relations, Frankfurt School Critical Theory faces a ‘crisis of critique’ that is affecting its ability to generate analyses and political interventions that are relevant to the present world-historical conjuncture. This article seeks to identify the theoretical origins of this predicament by investigating the meta-theoretical architecture of the prevailing Habermasian framework of critique. I contend that the binary ontology and methodology of society that lies at the heart of the Habermasian paradigm has effected an uncoupling of normative critique from substantive social and political analysis and resulted in a severe weakening of both Critical Theory’s ‘explanatory-diagnostic’ and ‘anticipatory-utopian’ capabilities. Thereafter, I discuss the determinate ways in which these issues have manifested in critical theoretical interventions on international politics by exploring both Habermas’s own writings on the post-national constellation and Andrew Linklater’s theory of cosmopolitanism and the sociology of global morals. Both projects, it is argued, rely on a reductive, functionalist analysis of global political dynamics and express a political perspective that lacks a definite critical content. Ultimately, the article contends that a revitalisation of Critical Theory in International Relations must necessarily involve a clarification of its fundamental categories of analysis and a recovery of the orientation towards totalising critique.

Понятие морального сознания в социологической традиции

In this article the author presents a historical and theoretical analysis of the concept of moral conscience in the sociological tradition, as well as analysis of the most important approaches to studying moral conscience in modern social and cognitive psychology. The crucial classical sociological concepts of moral conscience by Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim are analyzed in a comparative perspective as examples of utilitarian and social realist solutions to the problem of social order. In addition, the author discusses some more recent approaches to studying moral conscience that are related to the social psychological tradition, which is heavily based on classical studies of moral development by L. Kohlberg. It is shown that, despite its inherent shortcomings and limitations, Kohlberg’s theory formed the methodological basis for contemporary moral psychology, which in itself is a distinct field which studies the mechanisms of making moral judgments and evaluations. The predominant approach in the interdisciplinary science of morality, which would be experiments aimed at examining singular moral judgments, is criticized based on the distinction between “thin” and “thick” morality proposed by G. Abend. Also considered are some modern attempts to rekindle interest in studying morale and moral conscience within sociological theory, as well as the so called “sociology of morality”, said attempts being of both descriptive and prescriptive nature. In conclusion the author discusses the possibility for further elaborating the category of moral conscience in sociological theory and research.

Book review „Leksykon socjologii moralności. Podstawy – teorie – badania – perspektywy“; scientific editor: Janusz Mariański

Abstract The sociology of morality as an empirical science explores the morality from its social side of the formation and functioning (morality as a social construct), from the social conditions of all the phenomena that create the field of morality. It also diagnoses the social conditions of its development, differentiation or regress.

Review of the book by Janusz Marianski "Lexicon sociology of morality"

Morality is an indispensable element of social life. Norms and values - socially embedded and determining the foundations of a culture – decide of individual and massive behaviors. Despite the cultural changes and the discourse around the ways of conceiving the ethics and morality, despite relativization of certain values and norms and consolidation of other, culturally new, morality is an integral building block of society. It is considered both as an essential component of political, economic and social life, as well as permanent element of solving social conflicts in public life and in the international field.

Altruism: New perspectives of research on a classical theme in sociology of morality

Since coined by Comte, altruism has become one of the most controversial concepts in social and behavioral sciences, although altruistic behavior and related topics have been successfully studied within a number of fields. Oddly, while the theme of altruism was of primary significance in classical sociology of morality, modern sociology seems to have relatively little interest in studying altruism and altruistic behavior (although there are some exceptions) and the field is largely dominated by other social and behavioral sciences. The article aims at reconsidering altruism as a concept and as an area of research in sociology of morality by reviewing the major concepts of altruism in classical sociology and modern behavioral sciences. The article argues that, although for the ‘new’ sociology of morality it is necessary to take into account behavioral and psychological perspectives, a promising sociological approach to the study of altruism in different social contexts can be based on renewing the classical focus on the normative components of moral behavior.

George Orwell and ecological citizenship: moral agency and modern estrangement

Theories of ecological citizenship seek to conceptualize political agency while taking into account humanity’s embeddedness in nature. This essay intervenes with contributions from an author distant from discourses about environmental politics, but with insights to offer them. George Orwell’s writings respond to a problem continuously articulated in the history of ecological thought: the estrangement from the conditions of one’s existence. In doing so, he provides a literary case study of ecological moral reasoning, a practice whereby the virtues of ecological citizenship are cultivated. Such virtues are cultivated by confronting the conditions of one’s existence in embodied terms, incorporating that experiential knowledge, and contributing to practices of self-government using it. This essay presents Orwell’s case, explains its relevance to the contemporary discourse on ecological citizenship, and concludes by suggesting that it also provides resources for empirical social scientists seeking to operationalize ecological citizenship theory by way of a moral sociology of the environment.

Campus Culture Wars and the Sociology of Morality

In 2014Comparative Sociologypublished our analysis of microaggression complaints – a comparative and theoretical piece addressing microaggression complaints as a form of social control indicative of a distinct moral culture. The article attracted a surprising amount of attention in popular media, and with this attention came confusion and controversy. Here we respond to popular accounts of our work, addressing common criticisms and confusions as well as the sociological question of why the article produced such strong reactions. We conclude by clarifying the sociology of morality’s role in moral debates and suggesting ways that sociological knowledge can inform debate and guide reform.

Interview with Gabriel Abend “The Moral Background Makes the Playof Life Possible” (interviewed by Elena Gudova)

Gabriel Abend discusses his interest in the sociology of morality and the main ideas of his book The Moral Background: An Inquiry into the History of Business Ethics [Abend 2014]. According to Abend, the business ethics discipline and its growing popularity at business schools deals not only with the tension between making money and being ethical, but with the preconditions which enable moral life: the moral background. Abend states that studying moralities and moral action in the social sciences is usually viewed through the lens of the first one, behavioral level, and the second one, normative level (moral and immoral behavior and norms, respectively), which, taken together, constitute first-order morality. Abend also points out that the “moral background” should be suggested as the third level, or second-order morality, which underlies and supports first-order morality through six dimensions. These include: the reasons for first-level morality support, the existing concepts repertoire, the subject of the moral evaluation, proper moral methods, the objectiveness of morality, and metaphysical conceptions. Some of these dimensions have a society-level organization, such as the conceptual repertoire for speaking about moralities in different languages, and some dimensions have an individual-level organization, such as the objectivity or relativity of first-order morality. Abend identifies two types of moral background that he describes as the “Christian Merchant” and the “Standards of Practice”. The “Christian Merchant” type can be characterized as an ethics of being, developing certain features of character and moral objectivism. The “Standards of Practice” is an ethics of doing, which sustains moral relativism and emphasizes moral actions with no particular attention to their motives. The “Standards of Practice” type has found its way into business schools’ curricula as a business ethics discipline that believes morality can be taught by using case studies. This approach, while maintaining the principles of corporate social responsibility, can have negative effects on society and the economy. As long as corporations suggest that ethics pays and act morally only to make a profit, there is a risk that without the payoff, they will stop acting morally. This fact causes questions to surface, not only about corporate social responsibility and ethical behavior in business, but ultimately about values and the place of morality in society at large.

The genesis and structure of moral universalism: social justice in Victorian Britain, 1834–1901

Sociologists generally agree that history affects or conditions moral belief, but the relationship is still only vaguely understood. Using a case study of the appearance of social justice beliefs in Victorian-era Britain, this article develops an explanation of the link between history and morality by applying field theory to capture the historical genesis of a field. A moral way of evaluating poverty and inequality developed slowly over the course of the nineteenth century in Britain, with a trajectory extending back to Malthus’s Essay on the Principle of Population and moving forward to the Fabians, the Settlement Movement, and other social reformers at the end of the nineteenth century. Drawing from field theory, I argue that social justice beliefs emerged during this time through the genesis of moral universalism as a distinct mode of experience. Several recognizable moral beliefs appeared in the process, including “equality of opportunity,” “equality of reward,” “character,” and “effort,” “ability,” and “duty” as forms of merit (among others). I argue for treating moral beliefs as historical and relational entities that are situated and dated by the conditions marking their appearance in a field. As I conclude, this lends the sociology of morality to a critical moral reflexivity instead of moral relativism or moral realism.

Theorizing morality in context

How does context condition morality? This is one of the core questions of the sociology of morality and also one that has remained largely untheorized till date. In this article, we draw on insights from symbolic interactionism, and develop a theoretical framework that highlights the role of context in variation of morality. This framework is informed by a view of the self as a reflexive process that engages with moral norms through giving a self-account in relation to the norms. Based on this view, we distinguish between three contextual dimensions that condition morality: symbolic forms, scenes of address, and narrating subjects. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the presented theoretical framework for sociological studies of morality.

Sociología moral del dinero en el mundo popular

Este artículo analiza la conformación de una nueva infraestructura monetaria del mundo popular. Muestra el rol creciente del dinero en estos sectores y se pregunta sobre las nuevas formas de integración social que estos cambios suponen. Aborda estos cambios desde una sociología moral del dinero. Utiliza materiales empíricos de un trabajo de campo en las barriadas de la periferia de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires entre 2006 y 2010.

The Moral Performativity of Credit and Debt in the Slums of Buenos Aires

Classic works in anthropology and sociology have essentialized formal capitalist credit and their alternative forms, be they community-based or informal. The financialization of everyday life has produced the return to this one-sided narrative. My aim in this article is to show how the moral dimension of financial practices does not represent the flip side of capitalist institutions. The economization of morality is a transaction that takes place not only along the margins but also at the heart of financial practices. A moral sociology of money becomes increasingly necessary as the financialization of the everyday life develops. I use ethnographic data that I collected between 2006 and 2011 during my fieldwork in the slums of Buenos Aires. I attempted to understand the growing role and the multiple forms of credit and debt in the economy of the poor. My ethnographic reconstruction is guided by a conceptual foundation that allows for an anti-essentialist interpretation of the moral dimension of credit and debt. In this article I propose considering the concept of moral capital as a kind of guarantee together with other kinds of capital such as economic or legal capital. My argument seeks to deessentialize the opposition between informal and community-based systems and the so-called capitalist systems, revealing their continuity through the rules that must be complied with in order to accumulate moral capital as a way to access credit and pay-off debts. The hypothesis that moral capital multiplies economic capital suggests that there are differentiations and inequalities that not only regulate borrowers but also allow them to be distinguished individually. The financialization of the economy is translated into a space for moral distinction that provides an outline for a new topography of the moral antagonism in the economic life.

Socjologia moralności Marii Ossowskiej i Janusza Mariańskiego – analiza porównawcza

W niniejszym tekście przeprowadzono porównanie dwóch stanowisk, jakie wybijają się w polskiej socjologii moralności. Pierwsze reprezentuje dorobek Marii Ossowskiej – pionierki socjologii moralności. Ona torowała drogę tej subdyscyplinie nie tylko w literaturze rodzimej, ale i światowej. Do dziś uznawana jest za autorytet. Drugie stanowisko związane jest z twórczością Janusza Mariańskiego – należącego do następnego pokolenia socjologów, który kilkadziesiąt lat swoich naukowych dociekań poświęcił zagadnieniom moralności i bez wątpienia poszczycić się może dorobkiem, który wyraźnie wybija się spośród innych zarówno z perspektywy tego, co dokonano w Polsce, jak i poza jej granicami. W porównaniu uwzględniono: przedmiot badań, stosowane metody, relację między moralnością a religią, język wypowiedzi, inspiracje zajmowania się dyscypliną.

Moralne odlike ženskih likova u najstarijim pjesmama junačkim - sociološka analiza sadržaja

The study aims to, in terms of the sociology of morality, analyzes the characters of women in the oldest Serbian epic poems using sociological content analysis. The results indicate the social evaluation of moral characteristics of women, moral actions and personal qualities ascribed to women in the oldest epic poems, moral judgment, sanctions and moral imperatives. Also indirectly indicate the former social status of women and the amount of social power which she possesses. One gets the insight into a part of the mores of a given period of time, sometimes inseparable from the moral community and moral beliefs of folk singers. Female characters should provide and respect life. Highly valued marital fidelity of women, as well as honesty, honor, sacrifice and empathy. To religion and ethnicity poets also subjoin moral value. Respect and obedience to authority are implemented in the moral character of women and form an inseparable part, although they are not accurately moral qualities.

Moral decline sociology: Critiquing the legacy of Durkheim

This article critically evaluates key assumptions within classical and contemporary ‘decline’ moral sociology. It argues that two dominant models of moral loss sociology – the ‘cultural pessimist’ and ‘communitarians’ – are indebted to a set of Durkheimian assumptions that underwrite his original diagnosis of the moral crisis of modernity. Three specific assumptions are identified and critiqued: view of human nature and self; ‘society’ as the necessary source of morality; and the functions of morality. The article suggests that these assumptions work to ignore how self, emotions and cultural ideals of self-improvement may work as alternate moral structures in late modernity.