The Good Life: the moral individual in an antimoral world by Cheryl Mendelson. Bloomsbury 2012.
An interesting work tracing the development of Western morality and how it is breaking down. Lots to think about.
Dictionary definitions. Morality: the judgement of goodness or badness of human action and behaviour. Amoral: (a) not admitting moral distinctions or judgements or (b) lacking moral judgement, unable to distinguish between right and wrong. Immoral: contrary to established morality, especially in sexual matters.
CM also uses: Premoral: older value systems, still present in some societies. Antimoral: (a) anomic - demands freedom from restraint on actions and behaviour; (b) authoritarian - rules must be obeyed literally. She argues that morality develops from premoral systems, most commonly in the West, where it shaped government structure, civil society and social custom. It does not guaratee wisdom or virtue - people can still be ignorant, misguided, weak or perverse - and moral ideas can be subverted (equality in China). She notes that moral striving can lead to false pride and self-righteousness.
Moral people tend to be sober, strong-minded, rational, tell the truth, keep promises, dutiful, compassionate and self-critical. In moral cultures, government power tends to be reliably subject to law; businesses and administrative and civil services tolerably efficient, fair and honest; civil order, peace and safety is maintained with maximum freedom and minimum oppression and tyranny; high levels of sexual and racial equality; broad egalitarian distribution of wealth. Abolish polygamy, servitude and privileges of caste and class. Needs constant reinforcement and renewal to avoid becoming a less moral society.
All are born with mental capacity to feel with and for others, to be fair, and exercise some restraint over greed, fear, anger, egoism and sexual appetites. [My note: but not autistics and psychopaths?] Each civilization shapes these into its own code of right and wrong.
Morality is learnt. At a very young age, behaviour is controlled by external authority (parents). Preschoolers begin to internalize abstract values (stealing, causing pain) and feel guilt. Primary age show strict moralism about morals they understand (cheating in games). Teenagers develop strongly held, deeply personal convictions about moral ideals. Adult moral sense grows more flexible and subtle, less black-and-white and increased ability to hold to one's own values despite lack of social support, or even powerful opposition.
In premoral societies right and wrong depend on a person's place in society; specific vices and virtues are attributed to specific classes, trades and social positions; inferiors obey superiors, who in turn take care of inferiors; shame and dishonour follow violations of duties and virtues. Dominated by narcissistic goals (wealth, power, fame, status) and governed by shame and avoidance of losing face. Feel that failure and inferiority are desesrved.
The West is seeing a decline in the dominance of the moral mind and an increase in narcissism. Compassion is seen as weakness, mercy as injustice, wealth, power and success are good. More people disregard truth and science and some are attracted to Scientology, UFO theories, astrology and the like. Displacement > people feel helpless, unimportant and mistreated > can become fanatic about issues (stem cells, abortion, animal rights) or politics (facism, anarachism, totalitarianism). Morality rejects vengeance, arousing anger in pre-moral minds who then favour retaliation. Revenge is partly shoring up wounded pride, status or standing. Less able to invest in other people and activities for the activity itself. Charismatic people often suffer from narcissitic character disorders, fear ageing and death, temd to feel empty, lonely and bored, unable to love due to feeling worthless or unimportant. Narcississtic parents tend to raise narcissistic children; either cruel or overbearing or treat child as way of feeding own inadequacies (pushy parents?).
Moral, extra-moral and pre-moral goods co-exist: beauty, strength, courage, honour, status, pleasure. Moral people once condemned sexual pleasure; they were misled and mistaken. Some are still ultra-abstemious disapprovers.
Anti-moralism arises from need to be superior. The anomic (norm-less) type demands freedom from restraint of any kind, covets status and admiration, lies, cheats and betrays and is politically indiscriminate (liberalism, anarchism, bohemianism, revolutionary movements and rightwing), favour social engineering. The authoritarian type insists on obedience, respect for authority and rules,defends tradition, rank and power, politically (without exception) right wing, conservative or right wing liberal), sect leaders, fundamentalists, rules obeyed mechanically and legalistically, literal interpretations. With inadequate self-control they veer between dominance and submission, rely on punishment, revenge and retribution, want cultural dominance in film and fiction endings, are violent, cruel and greedy for food, sex and money. Have no guilt about injustices, project their fears and self-hatred onto others. Oppose 'emasculating' laws (gun control, taxation). Avow family values but have affairs and divorces - marriage and fidelity threatens their masculinity. Polygyny undermines morality, leads to moral collapse (sexual abuse of children, abuses of power, greed, dishonesty, cruelty and diminshed rationality). Shame is a matter of life and death; guilt is comparatively weak method of self-control.
Contracting role of the family. Very young children need a strong, loving connection with parental figures to develop normally. Eventually internalize demands, ideals and values of both parents, then wider family and friends,then respected adults. In social systems where women are segregated with the children, and older boys move into men's quarters, morality is unlikely to develop. Today fathers frequently absent from home (long hours, travel) or totally (divorce, prison) > deprives child of learning from him and his values > harder for boys to learn to be a man. Frequent place moves break connections between families, friends and neighbours > children more likely to be adults with loose ties. On average, for children under three, more time in parental care means a better outcome for the child. Finland: since 1984, child care allowance tos mothers who choose to stay at home with children up until youngest child turns three, every child guaranteed a place in public day care with high standards of staff education and high rates to staff to children.
Currently the US far right is dominated by premoral thinking, even amoral (discussion of torture and abortion). The US has the highest rate of imprisonment in the entire world, both in
absolute terms (2.3m in 2008) and by percentage (c.1% of all adults);
prisons are brutal, harsh and merciless. The legal system does not work
as it should. Relatives of victims demand revenge. Police beahviour has
deteriorated - use of tasers.
'Cool' is now a nearly meaningless term of general approval - but is stifling and hard to destroy. Originating in a child's 'I don't care', it is a way of turning bad into good, failure into success by redefining disadvantage as a kind of superiority. Preserves distance from others, often traced back to to attitudes adoped by blacks to help them survive slavery, taken up by beatniks and hippies. Likely to forgive and justify what ordinary morality condemns; cruelty, oppression, self-seeking, greed, duplicity, cowardice, hypocrisy and betrayal. Their views on politics are amoral and self-interested. Cool has a natural synthesis with fanaticism.
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