social morality

What is the definition of morality?

Morality is the quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct or a system of

ideas that fall into those same categories.

We often hear words about religious morality or the phrase Christian morality in society. Items

that fall into the morally sound category are qualities like good, goodness, rightness, virtue,

and righteousness.

When talking about a moral quality involving a course of action, we think of ethics. To define

morality, a person will use the rules or habits with regard to right and wrong that he or she

follows.

It is a complex system of general principles and particular judgments based on cultural,

religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs. Cultures and or groups regulate and

generalize these concepts, thus regulating behavior. When someone conforms to the

codification, you consider this person to be moral.

And yet, the notion of how we ought to behave and the reality of how we do behave are varied

and real morality behaves in accordance with one's perception of morality. Often, doctrines or

moral duties that support the quality of an action which renders it good, is moral.

And so a system of standards used to produce honest, decent, and ethical results are

considered moral.

Morality (from the Latin moralities "manner, character, proper behavior") is a sense of behavioral

conduct that differentiates intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good (or

right) and bad (or wrong). A moral code is a system of morality (for example, according to a

particular philosophy, religion, culture, etc.) and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a

moral code. Immorality is the active opposition to morality, while amorality is variously defined

as an unawareness of, indifference toward, or disbelief in any set of moral standards or

principles.

Morality has two principal meanings:

 In its "descriptive" sense, morality refers to personal or cultural

values, codes of conduct or social mores that distinguish between

right and wrong in the human society. Describing morality in this

way is not making a claim about what is objectively right or wrong,

but only referring to what is considered right or wrong by

people.

For the most part right and wrong acts are classified as such because

they are thought to cause benefit or harm, but it is possible that

many moral beliefs are based on prejudice, ignorance or even hatred.[clarification needed] This sense of the term is addressed by

descriptive ethics.

 In its "normative" sense, morality refers directly to what is right

and wrong, regardless of what specific individuals think. It could

be defined as the conduct of the ideal "moral" person in a certain

situation. This usage of the term is characterized by "definitive"

statements such as "That act is immoral" rather than descriptive

ones such as "Many believe that act is immoral." It is often

challenged by moral nihilism, which rejects the existence of an any

moral truths,[6] and supported by moral realism, which supports the

existence of moral truths. The normative usage of the term

"morality" is addressed by

normative ethics.

Morality and politics

If morality is the answer to the question 'how ought we to live' at the

individual level, politics can be seen as addressing the same question

at the social level. It is therefore unsurprising that evidence has been

found of a relationship between attitudes in morality and politics.

Jonathan Haidt and Jesse Graham have studied the differences between

liberals and conservatives, in this regard.[24][25][26] Haidt found that

Americans who identified as liberals tended to value care and fairness

higher than loyalty, respect and purity. Self-identified conservative

Americans valued care and fairness less and the remaining three values

more. Both groups gave care the highest over-all weighting, but

conservatives valued fairness the lowest, whereas liberals valued purity

the lowest. Haidt also hypothesizes that the origin of this division in

the United States can be traced to geohistorical factors, with

conservatism strongest in closely knit, ethnically homogenous

communities, in contrast to port-cities, where the cultural mix is greater,

thus requiring more liberalism.

Group morality develops from shared concepts and beliefs and is often

codified to regulate behavior within a

culture or community. Various

defined actions come to be called moral or immoral. Individuals who choose

moral action are popularly held to possess "moral fiber", whereas those

who indulge in immoral behavior may be labeled as socially degenerate.