The Sociology of Morality

On Structures, Norms, and Cultural Variation in Luminaria

The intersection of morality and sociology is particularly visible in how societies define deviance, regulate ethical behaviour, and critique the balance between external structures and individual freedom.

1. Sociology and the Study of Morality and Deviance

Morality has long been a concern for sociological thinkers such as Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx.

• Marxist Perspective on Bad Behaviour: Marx argued individuals behave badly mainly due to poverty and unequal distribution of resources. In a socialist society, he believed equal division of goods would erase the need for immoral behaviour.

• Weak Historical Engagement: For much of modern sociology, morality was underexplored because it is too broad—touching on both individual values and group norms—making it difficult to measure.

• Parsing Morality into Constructs: To address this, sociologists often reduce morality into measurable elements such as altruism, norms, cooperation, truthfulness, or moral identities.

• Criminology and Moral Codes: Criminology emerged as a distinct field, treating law-breaking as moral violation, but often avoiding the word “morality” directly.

2. Social and Group Morality (Sociological Applications of MFT)

Sociology expands the insights of Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) to stress the role of group-level morality.

• Group-Oriented Morality: Emphasis on loyalty, respect for authority, and purity strongly predicts avoidance of deviance—more so than care and justice alone.

• Beyond Harm and Fairness: While traditional studies fixate on fairness and care, sociological perspectives highlight that duty, tradition, and purity also regulate social behaviour.

• Social Context Matters: Including group-level concerns greatly increases predictive power for compliance and non-deviance. Communities survive not just by kindness, but by shared ritual, respect, and loyalty.

3. Sociology in Ethical Decision-Making Models

In business ethics, sociological factors underpin most ethical decision-making models (EDMMs).

• Exogenous Morality: Morality is often defined from outside the individual, shaped by group consensus or cultural standards.

• Social Learning Theory (Differential Association): Unethical behaviour is learned through close groups. “Significant others”—peers, superiors—shape one’s moral compass.

• Organizational Culture: Shared values, codes, and authority structures guide behaviour. Culture moderates moral cognition through referent others, obedience to authority, and perceptions of responsibility.

  • Studies (e.g., Milgram) show individuals may inflict harm when instructed by authority, revealing culture’s profound influence.

• Cultural Environment: Law, religion, customs, and national identity define moral norms. For example:

  • In many African and Asian societies, nepotism (helping kin secure work) is a duty.

  • In the Netherlands, nepotism is seen as fraud and legally forbidden.

  • These differences show morality as culturally relative, not universal.

4. Critiques of Sociological Focus in Ethics

Sociological approaches invite critique for reducing morality to compliance:

• Instrumentalism: Many models aim to manipulate behaviour for conformity, neglecting freedom or moral agency.

• Instrumentalizing the Individual: Treating people as variables to control reduces them to tools, not moral actors.

• The Missing “Will/Heart”: Models often assume decision makers have only mind and behaviour—ignoring will, intention, and virtue.

• Relativism vs. Universalism: Sociologists and anthropologists often reject universal morality. Cultural psychologists (e.g., Richard Shweder) propose morality varies by culture, clustering into autonomy, community, and divinity. Folk moral relativism highlights vast inter- and intra-cultural variation, undermining the assumption of one “folk morality.”

Luminaria Perspective

For Luminaria, sociology explains why empires fracture, why guilds police their own, and why gods of order or chaos thrive in different lands.

“The law binds the crowd, but the heart binds the soul. And only when both align does a people endure.”
— Oracle of the Ashen Halls