Loosening cultural ties

    Most people in advanced industrial societies today do not have the strict cultural ties of previous generations. Mass media, migration, decline of religion, spread of public education, weakening of traditional gender roles, increased level of education, and job and professional mobility have weakened traditional cultural affiliations. Political and large-scale economic institutional structures, with their own "cultures," play a greater role in contemporary life than previously. People often have difficulty in identifying their cultural affiliation, while identifying with one's profession, political affiliation, or religious association is relatively easy. Today we often choose key structures that influence, sometimes basically, the way we live our lives. We select our neighborhood, occupation, city, and religion to a greater degree than people did in the past. People today, even those from similar backgrounds, live by different moral codes. The fact of moral difference is more pervasive than the differences represented by the diversity of cultures.    Top

Pluralism and its problems

    Pluralism refers to a variety of basic lifestyles within a society and to the absence of any comprehensive set of general standards. Each lifestyle has its special standards. Some are less demanding than others, leaving the individual to follow his or her own moral and nonmoral standards, while others involve practices or institutions that dictate almost every move.
    Pluralism presents problems for moral theories. In an advanced industrial society pluralism exists side by side with a high level of social interaction. That is, people of diverse beliefs, standards, backgrounds, and religions regularly act in concert on the job, at play, in school, vacationing in the same places, taking the same means of transportation, and living in the same neighborhoods. As strict common values have receded, people have become more interdependent. Specialization, government, unions, large corporations, common media, transportation, health care, and education make all of us interdependent. One challenge for moral theory is to face the demands of pluralism, a multiplicity of standards existing side by side, coupled with increasing interdependency.   Top