Book chapter
Inequality and the Development of Moral Emotions
The Oxford Handbook of Emotional Development, p.491
Oxford University Press
01/07/2022
DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198855903.013.1
Abstract
This chapter outlines the authors’ thesis that the level of economic inequality in a society is reflected in its members’ moral emotional experiences. Those living in societies with more equality regularly experience more positive, binding emotions. Conversely, those living in unequal societies are significantly more likely to experience negative, sanctioning moral emotions. Growing up and living under these various social structures affects emotional development in these directions. This chapter explores the links between societal structure and individual emotion, contending that individual moral emotions represent the distal structures of society. The authors outline a broad theory linking individual emotional development to cultural patterns and structural economic inequality, supporting a thesis that sanctioning is generated by and reinforces a pronounced social hierarchy. Their focus is not only on people’s location within social structure, but on the nature of that structure itself.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Inequality and the Development of Moral Emotions
- Creators
- Sarah K Harkness - University of IowaSteven Hitlin - University of Iowa
- Contributors
- Andrea C Samson (Editor) - Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of GenevaEric A Walle (Editor) - Psychological Sciences, University of California, MercedDaniel Dukes (Editor) - Special Education, University of Fribourg
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- The Oxford Handbook of Emotional Development, p.491
- DOI
- 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198855903.013.1
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/07/2022
- Academic Unit
- Sociology and Criminology
- Record Identifier
- 9984306345902771
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