Morality in Humanities - Essay Example

[03/09 Morality in humanities Man is a social animal. His behavior is largely governed by his reliance on his environment and society. A person, no matter how reclusive or isolated, can never be self-sufficient and has to interact with others in some or the other way. Naturally, the norms of morality that he has designed for himself and his society too have to have their dependence on those factors. This research tries to identify some of those prominent factors – religion, society and family, and aims towards knowing the way they have shaped the lives in different parts of the world, and the transitions associated therewith.

­­ An obvious question that would crop up in the restless mind of man would be, “Why are we born; and what is our purpose in life?” Religion ideally answers this question and hence has been a pivotal factor for determining the transitions in the standards of morality. A striking example of this is the authority of the clergy till some centuries ago in all parts of the world. All major decisions on judging or defining morality, whether social or personal had some or the other influence of the priesthood.

However, religions as practised by the masses have also undergone various changes. It is no more as rigid and sacrosanct today as it was earlier. People now tend towards applying critical and rational thinking. For instance, a comparatively larger percentage of today’s population is more concerned and observant about animal rights, than about personal salvation. (The rise and activities of various animal rights groups can attest this fact.)Hence, animal sacrifices for religious reasons are close to hitting nadir in the American society.

Thus it can be argued that relaxation of religious dogmas have led towards new moral standards, those of eco-sensitivity and freedom from religious restrictions, the degrees varying according to the demographics. Today’s man is far-more free-thinking and tolerant and considers it below his moral standards to deny the rights of living to others for personal gains. Therefore, at least in the west religion is gradually losing its hold over morality since most of those nations are secular and statistics suggest that more and more people are turning towards atheism and agnosticism there.

For example in the U.S. the figure is 15% in 2008 compared to about 8.2 in 1990. (Kosmin, Keyser, Highlight) Another prominent factor governing the transitions in morality is family. Man spends most of his life with his family adhering to its needs, demands and laws since it is the same family that has spent maximum time with him and molded his being. Traditionally and contemporarily, it has been believed that the eastern world has been more favorable toward joint families than their nuclear counterparts.

Also, in the west, “Social norms about multigenerational families clearly have changed. Separate residence is now preferred both by the older generation and by their children”. (Ruggles, 127) In Asian countries like India, joint families are widespread even today. A nuclear family can, when viewed in a negative sense instill a feeling of selfishness in a child. On the other hand in a joint family there is a naked lack of individuality although ideally unity thrives there. Hence, moralities because of nuclear families can be business driven, individual and short-sighted or even independent of family; whereas in joint families they could be elder-centric and all-in-the-family-inclusive.

An individual normally strives to gain acceptance in society. But it is that very society which exposes him to different situations, influences and role models. A person looks up to his role model to determine his yardsticks of morality. “And if it is true that adults are powerfully influenced towards conformity with the culture that surrounds them, all the more so young children! In their case, the surrounding culture does not challenge and overpower their pre-existing values and dispositions, for these do not yet exist; rather, the culture creates these values and dispositions!

” (Pekarsky) A classic example of the influence of society is of divorce. Till very recent times, divorce was considered a moral taboo in most if not all societies, whereas today it is not that frowned upon. Now consider the ratio of marriage to divorce cases in 1900 and 1998 in the USA. It was 709,000 to 55,751, i.e 12.71 in the former; and 2,256,000 to 1,135,000, i.e. 1.98 in the latter. (Marriages and Divorces, 1900–2008)This clearly means that the rate of divorce has gone up six-fold thanks to the acceptance of the society for this act.

In other words, the individual moral compass is determined by social norms and acceptance. This is more or less true with the other parts of the world too.Inference: Family and society play the most crucial role in establishing and shaping up the progression of morality. Religion too can catch up as it has in the past but these days, its influence is slightly declining, especially in the western world. But, when observed more closely it is clear that even family, society and religion are interlinked and thus collectively affect morality, irrespective of demographics.

Works CitedKosmin, Barry and Keysar, Ariela, American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS 2008), Highlight, Print.Ruggles, Steven. The Transformation of American Family Structure in American Historical Review. 1994. Print.Pekarsky, Daniel. “The Role of Culture in Moral Development”, Parenthood in America, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2011." Marriages and Divorces”, 1900–2008” www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005044.html, Pearson Education, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2011.