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[Ethics] E2/P2: Moral & Political attitude: Types, Factors

Affecting, Role of Social Media, Milgram Experiment
1. E2/P2: Video Lecture by
2. Moral Attitude: Meaning
3. Moral Attitude: Implications of
4. Role of Social Media in Moral Attitude
5. Political Attitude and ideologies
6. Factors affecting Political attitude
7. Role of Social Media in Political Attitude
8. Strength of Attitude
9. Accessibility of Attitude
10. Milgram Experiment

E2/P1: Video Lecture by Kavan Limbasiya (AIR-198/CSE14)

In the previous part (E2/P1), we understood the meaning, structure and function of attitude. Now well see the
moral and political attitudes, for UPSC General studies paper 4 (GS4)

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/1oUiCAN3IT0

Moral Attitude: Meaning

Not all attitudes are concerned with Morality. E.g. My attitude towards snakes has nothing to do with
morality. But my attitude towards democracy will have moral undertones.
So, Moral attitudes are based on moral convictions of what is Right and what is wrong.
Moral attitudes are stronger than moral beliefs.
Family, society, religion and education play important role in framing those moral convictions.

Moral Attitude: Implications of

Positive Implications

Negative Implications

Tied up with strong emotions. Hence

prevents deviant behaviors among
normal folks due to fear of social
Osctricization e.g. child molestation,
incest.

Motivates a person towards Altruism,

volunteerism, social service.

Person can use it to justify violence behavior and lunacy and

still society will accept it because moral attitude = strong
emotions. Example
April 1919: A violent mob attacks an English missionary
Marcella Sherwood in Punjab. General Dyer uses this to justify
Jaliawalla Massacre, and hes given heros welcome in
England.
Motivates a person towards riots, genocide and terrorism.

Since moral attitude is tied with strong emotions, people dont

get along with those who dont share their moral attitude.
Result? Intolerance. Before buying/renting a house, people
will inquire about the caste/religion of the neighbors.

Religious attitude has trickle down effect. E.g. Hindus vs.

Muslim- if there is negativity towards other persons religious
outlook, then theyll find differences even in political and
economic outlooks. Ultimately itll transform from religious to
communal attitude.

Role of Social Media in Moral Attitude

Through facebook, whatsapp etc. youngsters are exposed to vulgar jokes, MMS, porn every day.
This Adolescent curiosity about sex/porn vs. moral lesson to respect women = cognitive dissonance.
According to studies, such boys have less empathy towards rape victims, aggressive behavioral
tendencies, increased interest in coercing partners towards unwanted sex and so on.
Bad/careless parenting + indifferent attitude of teachers + Peer pressure + exposure on TV/internet = A
Teenagers moral compass doesnt point to straight north.
Such teenagers feel attracted towards doing wrong things through internet, because internet gives them
following advantages
6 ways Internet catalyses wrong behavior
1.Anonymity

You can remain unknown / untraceable by police.

2.Action at
distance

You dont need to come near the victim.

3.Automation

Through computer scripts, you can circulate same message/photos on thousands of online
groups within few keystrokes.

4.Accessibility

Dataplans getting cheap everyday

5.Perpetuity

Text-images will multiply and exist indefinitely. So, even if say an MMS is removed from one
web-portal by court order, itll continue to circulate among others.

End result = 6 forms of Cyber-violence against Women

1.Hacking
2.Impersonation

Unauthorized access to system to acquire information

Creating fake profile of a woman on Facebook to embarrass her.
Creating fake profile on dating site to entrap woman in sex-trade.

3.Surveillance

Tracking a victim through her GPS-mobile, tracking keystrokes.

Planting spy-cams in ladies washrooms.
Recording of MMS in hotel rooms/gardens.

4.Harassment
5.Recruitment

Through persistence calls, messages, emails

Sex-traffickers use whatsapp, chat-room, message boards to communicate with
clients.
Fraudsters post fake job vacancies to lure women into sex-trade.

6.Malicious
distribution

Spurned lover putting Morphed photos or ex-boyfriend posting intimate photos on

social media to embarrass woman.

Cyber-violence against women, is prevalent in all types of countries

First world: pornography, and sites such as Ashley Madison that help married people to cheat on their
partners.
Developing countries: ~2 lakh children are kidnapped and sold every year in China through online portal
(2014 UN Gender report)
Least Developed countries: Currently mobile phones are most commonly used tools for cyber violence
in Nigeria, Kenya such as Viral rape videos/MMS.
Self-Study: Government of India decides to partially lift the ban on pornographic sites.

Political Attitude and ideologies

It defines your like or dislike for a political person, party or ideology.
Ideology

Character

Liberal/Moderate

They support basic ideas of liberty, equality and democracy but want reforms in the system
albeit not in extreme/violent manner but through constitutional / legal means.

Conservative

Want Status quo. They believe changes or reforms will not improve the situation.

Progressive

Progressive: slowly reform the system

Radical: immediately reform the system, e.g. Marx: Confiscate all the private
property immediately.
Nehru was a progressive- he believed state ownership but in a gradual manner.

Reactionary

Theyre one step behind Conservatives I.e. Conservatives want status quo, while
reactionaries want to go back to previous system.
Example Taliban/ISIS wanting to run nation with literal interpretation of Sharia/Quran.
Religious organizations involved in politics= theyre usually reactionary in nature.

Extremist

Extremely unhappy with current system

want complete change to a new system, and justify violence as a mean/tool to
achieve the end/goal. (Recall Teleological ethics and consequentialism in E1/P2)

Pacifist

Theyre also unhappy with current system but reject violence as a tool to achieve the
goal.
Example: Gandhi, Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.

Factors affecting Political attitude

Religion

Religion shapes a persons moral attitude E.g. Christianity defines Marriage as a union
between man and a woman. Therefore, a devout Christian will oppose same-sex
marriage.
Moral attitude will predict political attitude. E.g. devout Christian more likely to vote for
Republican party in USA, since Republicans are opposed to same-sex marriage.

Age

Older people more conservative and lean towards political democracy. (Younger people
want economic democracy).
Young people more liberal / radical. Theyre interested in change, because theyll live to
enjoy fruits of those changes.
But there are no hard and fast rules e.g. When Ronald Regan was young, he was a
supporter of Democrats and wanted government intervention in market. But when he
grew old, he leaned towards republican party, and worked for market oriented reforms.

Economic
Status

Poor will align towards communist / socialist ideology. Hell vote for a party promising to
get food, fertilizer and kerosene subsidy.
Rich will align towards right wing- free market, capitalism. Hell vote for a party promising
to remove wealth tax. (recall the Utilitarian function of Attitude in E2/P1).
So, why did Socialism thrive in post-colonial democratic third world countries from 50s to
80s? Because people were mostly poor.

Residence

Local unemployed youth more likely to align with party that promises action against the
migrants or reservation based on region.

Family

Children more likely to espouse the political ideology of their parents.

Race

If a race feels theyre deprived of opportunities because of other races, then more likely to lean
towards a party offering radical solutions against other races. E.g. German Aryans joining Nazi
party.

Gender

Females more likely to lean towards liberal ideology.

Education

School syllabus plays an important role. A Chinese may find Indian democracy as repulsive,
because he has been taught that Maos Communist ideology is best.

Conception
about
human
nature

Hobbes said, A person is fundamentally evil. Therefore, a strong-powerful state is

required.
Locke said, Man is a good rational person. Therefore, state should be kept weak, and
men should be made strong by giving more freedom and rights.
Thus, if we believe people have feeling of altruism, well support communist ideology.

Disposition

Some people hate order and prefer chaos-like Joker in the Dark Knight. Theyll naturally
be in favor of anarchy / radicalism.
If a person is born and raised in a military family, hed be in favor of strong state,
discipline, order, authoritarianism.
Japan is a disciplined society, youll find the same in their building Architecture and
political functioning.

Social
media

The information processed and shared on social media, molds a persons political views. Social
media has played big role in swinging the opinion of youth towards Modi/BJP during 2014
General elections.

Keep in mind that a persons political attitude is shaped not by any single, but complex combination of all above
factors. E.g. A Poor Muslim youth may be pro-Congress/SP but a Rich Dawoodi Bohra Muslim may be proModi.

Role of Social Media in Political Attitude

In 2014 general election, ~16 crore voters were 18-24 age group first time voters. In such demographic
composition, social media/internet plays huge role in shaping political attitude.
Social media has helped both Modi and Kejriwal to reach surprise victories in election.
Social media is full of both Hindu vs. Muslim, India vs Pakistan, Shia vs. A teenager exposed to such
groups, is likely to develop extreme radical or reactionary political views.
ISIS is using social media to recruit soldiers for their war.

Muzaffarnagar riots were a result of a viral video about eve teasing. Here moral attitude (about dignity of
women) + Religion + politics created a deadly stew.
Whatsapp has become an App for activism and empowerment- for coordination of political and violent
agitation. During recent Paatidar agitation in Gujarat, mobile internet was banned to prevent perpetrators
from coordinating their attacks/spreading false rumors.
Self-Study: Section 66A and freedom of speech

Strength of Attitude
Government of Maharashtra has imposed beef ban in the states. How do you feel about this?
Strength of attitude

Result?

Strong

Youll go out in dharnaa-Pradarshan for/against meat-ban

Neutral

Youll not say /do anything thinking this doesnt concern me at personal level.

Mild

You may murmur about it to your family members while watching news.

In short, we can predict behavior by measuring strength of the attitude.

Accessibility of Attitude
Conscious

Youre aware. Those C-A-B components immediately light in your brain.

Hidden (unconscious)

Youre unaware. C-A-B wont immediately reflect in your thoughts.

Study: Participants were asked will you vote for Obama?

Those who immediately raised hands (conscious), theyll go for voting on the election date.
Those who raise hands after few minutes they did not go to voting.

Milgram Experiment

Hitler was an evil dictator. But even ordinary Germans participated in atrocities against Jews. Why?
Prof. Stanley Milgram of Yale University (1961) began experiment to study it.
The participant (teacher) would ask a series of questions to another participant (learner).

The teachers were instructed to shock the learners whenever an incorrect answer was given.
The learner was not a participant at all but actually an actor who would pretend to be hurt by the shocks
and yell out in pain when the button was pushed.
2/3rd of the participants gave shocks upto fatal level (450 volts).
Because behind participant, there was a doctor, hell keep saying go onincrease the voltage, person will
not die.

Moral of the story

1. Lack of accountability, overwrites your conscience: Doctor is the authoritarian figure. Individual
participants conscience is overpowered, when participant thinks its not my responsibility, Im only
following orders.
2. Authoritarian figure can overwrite your conscience: Hitler was a great orator; he could sway the crowd
in his favor just by a speech.
3. Peer-pressure is stronger than obedience: If there are two participants, second participants refuses to
give shock to the subject and storms out of the room, then first participant may also walk away
4. Thus, Strength wise: peer-pressure (Conformity) > obedience > conscience.
This can explain
Nuremberg
trials

German officers justified their actions saying we were just following orders (obedience).

Massmovements
Mass
hysteria

Peer-pressure. Youve to participate, if others are participating. (conformity). Examples of MassHysteria- Ganpati drinking milk

In the next part (E2/P3) well see the factors responsible for attitude formation, prejudice, discrimination and how
to change behavior of people? And finally (E2/P4), well see the case studies and questions related to this topic.
Visit Mrunal.org/Ethics for more study material on Ethics.