Selective Moral Disengagement in the Exercise of Moral Agency
Journal of Moral Education 31 (2):101-119 (2002)
| Abstract | Moral agency has dual aspects manifested in both the power to refrain from behaving inhumanely and the proactive power to behave humanely. Moral agency is embedded in a broader socio-cognitive self-theory encompassing affective self-regulatory mechanisms rooted in personal standards linked to self-sanctions. Moral functioning is thus governed by self-reactive selfhood rather than by dispassionate abstract reasoning. The self-regulatory mechanisms governing moral conduct do not come into play unless they are activated and there are many psychosocial mechanisms by which moral self-sanctions are selectively disengaged from inhumane conduct. The moral disengagement may centre on the cognitive restructuring of inhumane conduct into a benign or worthy one by moral justification, sanitising language and exonerative social comparison; disavowal of personal agency in the harm one causes by diffusion or displacement of responsibility; disregarding or minimising the injurious effects of one's actions; and attribution of blame to, and dehumanisation of, those who are victimised. Social cognitive theory adopts an interactionist perspective to morality in which moral actions are the products of the reciprocal interplay of personal and social influences. Given the many mechanisms for disengaging moral control at both the individual and collective level, civilised life requires, in addition to humane personal standards, safeguards built into social systems that uphold compassionate behaviour and renounce cruelty | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,709 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesDan Freeman (2008). Beyond Moral Reasoning. Business Ethics Quarterly 18 (4):513-540.
C. Soares (2003). Corporate Versus Individual Moral Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics 46 (2):143 - 150.
Ruodan Shao, Karl Aquino & Dan Freeman (2008). Beyond Moral Reasoning. Business Ethics Quarterly 18 (4):513-540.
Paul Shapiro (2006). Moral Agency in Other Animals. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 27 (4):357-373.
Robert Boostrom (1998). The Student as Moral Agent. Journal of Moral Education 27 (2):179-190.
Adam Barsky (2011). Investigating the Effects of Moral Disengagement and Participation on Unethical Work Behavior. Journal of Business Ethics 104 (1):59-75.
John Deigh (1996). The Sources of Moral Agency: Essays in Moral Psychology and Freudian Theory. Cambridge University Press.
Maureen Sie (2009). Moral Agency, Conscious Control, and Deliberative Awareness. Inquiry 52 (5):516-531.
Sigmund Wagner-Tsukamoto (2009). Consumer Ethics in Japan: An Economic Reconstruction of Moral Agency of Japanese Firms – Qualitative Insights From Grocery/Retail Markets. Journal of Business Ethics 84 (1):29 - 44.
Celia Moore (2008). Moral Disengagement in Processes of Organizational Corruption. Journal of Business Ethics 80 (1).
Christine Hemingway (2005). Personal Values As a Catalyst for Corporate Social Entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Ethics 60 (3):233-249.
Mark Young & Andrew Sneddon (2011). Communitarian and Liberal Themes in Moral Agency and Education. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 2 (1):105-120.
Barbara Houston (1992). In Praise of Blame. Hypatia 7 (4):128 - 147.
William A. Rottschaefer (1998). The Biology and Psychology of Moral Agency. Cambridge University Press.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-09-02Total downloads17 ( #71,199 of 549,694 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,425 of 549,694 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
