Beyond Harm and Fairness: A Study of Deviance and Morality

• In Event: Morality, Culture, and Anomie as Predictors of Individual Outcomes

Abstract

The vast majority of studies of the relationship between morality and deviance measure morality in terms of care and justice. The underlying assumption of this approach is that deviant behavior is less likely among those whose morality centers on a concern for the protection and welfare of individuals. Less understood are the effects on deviant behavior of group-based dimensions of morality, such as loyalty, respect for traditional authority, and adherence to community norms regarding purity and sanctity. Using a sample of more than 1,400 students at a large northeastern university, we test whether a moral foundations approach (Haidt and Joseph 2004) improves our understanding of the relationship between morality and deviant behavior. We found that the importance individuals place on loyalty, authority, and purity when making moral decisions is significantly associated with their deviant behavior, and that these associations are generally stronger and more pervasive than the importance individuals place on harm and fairness. Moreover, we find that moral identity (Stets and Carter 2012) did not add any predictive power to our models.

Authors

• Eric Silver, Pennsylvania State University

• Leslie Abell, Pennsylvania State University