Social Constructionist View Of Morality

Discussions about morality, along with other aspects of life such as religion and politics, have been one of the hot topics being debated about nowadays. One of the reasons why this has been a hot topic for debate deals with the nature and source of morality. It is important to note that there are different perspectives given the various cultures and religions around the world. To further understand this concept of morality, one should be open and accepting of the various arguments presented. Morality is defined as principles dealing with the difference of right and wrong. Furthermore, the term itself carries additional concepts such as moral standards, moral responsibility, and moral identity. Moral standards refer to how we behave and

There would be arguments stating that morality would depend on the culture and context you are living in. Going back to the various perspectives on morality, constructed morality can be used as an argument to back this up. Discussions about this aspect of morality are launched based from Marx’s famous line “Man makes religion, religion does not make man”. With this, we depart from the religious aspect of morality and focusing on how it is a social construct. “The social constructionist argument posits reciprocity between human agency and the social system” (Matthews et al., 2004). This means that as human beings, we create the society we live in, and more to this, we are also products of society. The reason behind this thinking is that “while society provides the framework and guidelines by which our humanness is 'determined', society itself is the product of human interaction” (Matthews et al., 2004). With this, you can see how human interaction and how context plays a huge role in forming morality. For example, this can be seen in how we interact with our parents or friends with regards to decion making. We often look back at how we are raised by society or even by how the society moves and lean our decisions towards the accepted norm. The way we act is a product of the values and constructs of all

With this at hand, we are seen to have all the resources and capabilities to be able to construct such principles in life given our social background. Matthews and his comrades further discusses how morality is a social construct in citing Genesis 1:24 and 2:17-20. In these verses, God invites Adam and Eve to name and have dominion over all animals and to dress and keep the garden. With this, it shows how humans subscribe to a “pre-determined natural and moral order, and also contributed to its maintenance and extension, by their creative activities” (Matthews et al., 2004). Ritce (2013) adds more arguments in stating that morality is indeed a social construct. Rice states that the beliefs and values of people all around the world vary so greatly that there is a huge gap between what we believe and what exists in the society. Even with people asserting what should be, there can never be a consensus on what right and wrong is in our society. In addition to this, we can say that no one is really