The Autocrat’s Moral-Legal Dilemma: Popular Morality and Legal Institutions in China

2020 ◽  
pp. 001041402095769
Author(s):  
Iza Ding ◽  
Jeffrey Javed
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Legal Decisions ◽  
Legal Development ◽  
Popular Justice ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Party State

Authoritarian regimes sometimes professionalize their legal systems to govern more effectively. Yet when quasi-autonomous courts rule in contradiction to popular conceptions of right and wrong—popular morality—it might threaten citizens’ trust in the regime. We use the case of contemporary China to investigate this “moral-legal dilemma”—the competing needs of legal development and the satisfaction of popular justice concerns. Four case studies demonstrate that when court rulings conflict with popular morality, the party-state selectively alters decisions, so long as intervention does not significantly jeopardize the integrity of the legal system. Two online survey experiments then assess citizens’ reactions to moral-legal conflict in court rulings. We find that people are more likely to experience “moral dissonance” when legal decisions conflict with popular morality. We do not find that moral-legal conflict in court rulings significantly undermines individuals’ trust in the regime. Our analysis underscores the need for more attention to the moral foundations of authoritarian rule.

scholarly journals Analyzing the Perceived Utility of Covid-19 Countermeasures: The Role of Pronominalization, Moral Foundations, Moral Disengagement, Fake News Embracing, and Health Anxiety

2021 ◽  
pp. 003329412110278
Author(s):  
Alessandro Ansani ◽  
Marco Marini ◽  
Christian Cecconi ◽  
Daniele Dragoni ◽  
Elena Rinallo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Moral Disengagement ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Health Anxiety ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Perceived Utility

An online survey (N = 210) is presented on how the perceived utility of correct and exaggerated countermeasures against Covid-19 is affected by different pronominalization strategies (impersonal form, you, we). In evaluating the pronominalization effect, we have statistically controlled for the roles of several personal characteristics: Moral Disengagement, Moral Foundations, Health Anxiety, and Embracing of Fake News. Results indicate that, net of personal proclivities, the you form decreases the perceived utility of exaggerated countermeasures, possibly due to simulation processes. As a second point, through a Structural Equation Model, we show that binding moral values (Authority, Ingroup, and Purity) positively predict both fake news embracing and perceived utility of exaggerated countermeasures, while individualizing moral values (Harm and Fairness) negatively predict fake news embracing and positively predict the perceived utility of correct countermeasures. Lastly, fake news embracing showed a doubly bad effect: not only does it lead people to judge exaggerated countermeasures as more useful; but, more dangerously, it brings them to consider correct countermeasures as less useful in the struggle against the pandemic.

Association of the Individualizing and Binding Moral Foundations with Conceptions of Motherland in Russia

2021 ◽  
pp. 107-127
Author(s):  
O.A. Sychev ◽  
◽  
K.I. Belousov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Positive Image ◽  
Russian Version ◽  
Moral Content ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
High Level

Patriotism and attitude to the motherland attract much interest of researchers in the field of social sciences, although psychological foundations of these phenomena have not been sufficiently studied. On the basis of Moral Foundations Theory (by J. Haidt) we hypothesized that the characteristics of the moral sphere may be associated with some ideas about the motherland. In particular, binding moral foundations (including loyalty, authority and purity) which are more typical for conservatives should support positive patriotic ideas about the homeland. The low level of binding moral foundations can be related with a critical attitude towards the motherland, the presence of negative assessments of their country. This assump-tion is supported by the results of past studies of patriotism among individuals with different ideological views. The individualizing moral foundations dominating among liberals can be associated with a less global and narrower view of the motherland, which is linked with con-cepts of “family” and “home” rather than “society” or “country”. The aim of this study was to analyze the association between the individualizing and binding moral foundations with the content of ideas about the motherland. The important task of the study was to develop the Russian version of the moral foundations dictionary, which is necessary for analyzing the moral content of ideas about the motherland. To test the hypotheses we conducted a paper-pencil and online survey, obtained data included the answers on Moral Foundations Question-naire and textual answers characterizing the image of the motherland. The sample comprised 831 people (72% women) from 11 regions of Russia. Text responses were processed via com-puter content analysis in the LIWC program (by J. Pennebaker) using the moral foundations dictionary (all categories) and the general dictionary (10 categories most relevant to the prob-lem). To analyze the relations between the results of content analysis and MFQ questionnaire we calculated correlations of the individualizing and binding moral foundations with the presence or absence of each category in the participants’ responses. The results of the correlation analysis indicate that the individualizing moral foundations supports relatively narrow ideas about the motherland, associated with family and home, while people with a high level of binding moral foundations associate the motherland mostly with society and religion. Binding moral founda-tions support a positive image of the motherland, which is manifested in the more frequent use of positive assessments and avoidance of negative evaluations. Persons with a high level of binding moral foundations tend to ignore negative phenomena in the country, reflecting a violation of the individualizing moral norms (care and fairness). In particular, they less often mention violations of human rights and the poverty of the country's inhabitants. The necessary condition analysis revealed the effect of binding moral foundations as a necessary but insuffi-cient condition for maintaining a positive image of the motherland and the absence of negative ideas about it.

scholarly journals Echo chamber and trench warfare dynamics in online debates

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rune Karlsen ◽  
Kari Steen-Johnsen ◽  
Dag Wollebæk ◽  
Bernard Enjolras
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Collective Learning ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Echo Chambers ◽  
Echo Chamber ◽  
Trench Warfare

In this article, we take issue with the claim by Sunstein and others that online discussion takes place in echo chambers, and suggest that the dynamics of online debates could be more aptly described by the logic of ‘trench warfare’, in which opinions are reinforced through contradiction as well as confirmation. We use a unique online survey and an experimental approach to investigate and test echo chamber and trench warfare dynamics in online debates. The results show that people do indeed claim to discuss with those who hold opposite views from themselves. Furthermore, our survey experiments suggest that both confirming and contradicting arguments have similar effects on attitude reinforcement. Together, this indicates that both echo chamber and trench warfare dynamics – a situation where attitudes are reinforced through both confirmation and disconfirmation biases – characterize online debates. However, we also find that two-sided neutral arguments have weaker effects on reinforcement than one-sided confirming and contradicting arguments, suggesting that online debates could contribute to collective learning and qualification of arguments.

scholarly journals Formation of Indonesia's National Law System

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-90
Author(s):  
Ramadhani Puji Astutik ◽  
Anita Trisiana
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
The State ◽  
National Goal ◽  
Law System ◽  
Legal Development ◽  
Normative Approach ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
National Legal System

The formation of Indonesia's national legal system cannot be separated from the politics of law, because it is used as a guide in the process of making and enforcing the law to achieve a dream and national goal. The formation of the legal system in Indonesia has not gone well, Indonesia should have its own law. By having its own law, Indonesia will have national identity and will be seen as advanced by other countries. The formation of the national legal system in Indonesia is heavily influenced by external elements. It should maintain all the material sources of law that already exist in Indonesia. The objective of this study is to describe the formation of the national legal system in the State of Indonesia. This study uses a normative approach by using secondary data from library materials. The results of this study indicate that the formation of a national legal system is a process of developing a legal system and along with its element. With the development of the national legal system, it must be able to replace the Dutch colonial legal products with its own legal products. The development of the national legal system is a way to make changes in Indonesian legal products that must be in accordance with the values that are in people's lives. In the process of legal development, it is impossible to be separated from a legal politics.  

scholarly journals Review of the Political Direction of National Legal Development Law

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Achmad Irwan Hamzani ◽  
Kanti Rahayu ◽  
Tani Haryadi ◽  
Nur Khasanah ◽  
Havis Aravik
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Consciousness ◽  
The Political ◽  
Philosophical Approach ◽  
Legal Development ◽  
National Legal System ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Law Making ◽  
The Ideal

The political direction of the law in Indonesia in the development of national law simplifies legislation. The scope of national legal development is not only through legislation. There is the functionalization of the law that lives in society. The purpose of the research describes the political urgency of law in the development of national law and reviews the political direction of national law development law. This research uses a philosophical approach, namely to examine the law from the ideal side in the form of an idea of the direction of national law politics in the future. The results of this study show that the politics of law is necessary to provide direction in the development of national law. Each country has a legal political direction whose role as the basic policy of state organizers to determine the direction, shape, and content of the law to be established. Legal politics as a strategy of the formation process, as well as the implementation of laws based on the national legal system to achieve the goals and ideals of the state. The political direction of the law in Indonesia in the development of national law simplifies legislation. The scope of the development of the national legal system can be through legislation and functionalization of the living law. The political direction of the law in Indonesia in the development of national law simplifies the process of legislation. The impact will only be a successful legal state in law-making, but weak in law in action. The implication of this study is to expand the political direction of national law which includes the functionalization of the living law. By functionalizing "the living law", the resulting law is rooted in the legal consciousness of society.

scholarly journals The State of Human Rights and Political Freedoms in Belarus: Was the Crisis Inevitable?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Kolarzik ◽  
◽  
Aram Terzyan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Political Freedoms

The rule of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus has created one of the most resilient authoritarian regimes in post-communist Europe. Meanwhile, the turmoil triggered by the 2020 presidential election has put in the spotlight the mounting challenges facing Lukashenko’s authoritarian rule. This paper investigates the state of human rights and political freedoms in Belarus, focusing on the main rationale behind the turmoil surrounding the 2020 presidential election. It concludes that the political crisis following the elections is the unsurprising consequence of Lukashenko’s diminishing ability to maintain power or concentrate political control by preserving elite unity, controlling elections, and/or using force against opponents.

News reception and authoritarian control in a hybrid media system: Russian TV viewers and the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 026339572110414
Author(s):  
Maxim Alyukov
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Television News ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Cross Media ◽  
Media System ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
Media Repertoires

Authoritarian regimes attempt to control the circulation of political information. Scholars have identified many mechanisms through which actors can use broadcast and digital media to challenge or sustain authoritarian rule. However, while contemporary media environments are characterised by the integration of older and newer forms of communication, little is known about how authoritarian regimes use different media simultaneously to shape citizens’ perceptions. In order to address this issue, this study relies on focus groups and investigates Russian TV viewers’ cross-media repertoires and their reception of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It argues that some citizens evaluate state-aligned television narratives as more credible when they are reinforced by similar narratives in digital media. Citizens’ reactions to this synchronisation are predicated on their type of media use. For not very active news consumers, the reliance on digital media can verify the regime’s narratives in television news. Others can escape the synchronisation effect by actively searching online for additional information or not using digital media for news. These findings show how authoritarian regimes can utilise the advantages of hybrid media systems to shape citizens’ perceptions and specify the conditions under which citizens can escape the effects of the regime’s simultaneous use of different media.

Is helicopter parenting stifling moral courage and promoting moral disengagement? Implications for the training and development of millennial managers

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Randy Evans ◽  
Katherine A. Karl
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Moral Disengagement ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Training And Development ◽  
Moral Courage ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Helicopter Parenting ◽  
Generational Cohort ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to examine the ethical foundations of Gen Z individuals by studying the impact of helicopter parenting on moral courage and moral disengagement. In addition, this study considers the implications for Millennial generation managers that are likely to be supervising this current generational cohort. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were tested using a two-wave online survey of 215 undergraduate students. Findings Helicopter parenting was associated with lower levels of moral courage and an elevated propensity to morally disengage in a sample of Gen Z individuals. The impact of helicopter parenting on these moral foundations was mediated by the children’s increased desire for continued parental involvement in their lives. Practical implications Similar to the Gen Z students surveyed in this study, many Millennials were raised by helicopter parents, thus, it is likely that they are also prone to moral disengagement and low moral courage. Furthermore, Millennial managers will be managing Gen Z workers. Thus, many companies will need to enhance their efforts in providing Millennial managers with business ethics training aimed at developing moral courage and reducing moral disengagement. Originality/value This study examines a previously unidentified antecedent of moral courage and moral disengagement

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