Changing Moral Perceptions in Society

This assignment examines the evolving landscape of morality in contemporary society. It explores the impact of multiculturalism on shifting ethical norms and delves into the Kohlberg dilemma, where actions are judged based on both social acceptance and individual circumstances. The text argues that modern society grapples with understanding moral complexities by embracing diverse perspectives and acknowledging the gray areas within ethical dilemmas.

Running head: CHANGING MORAL PERCEPTIONS
CHANGING MORAL PERCPTIONS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CHANGING MORAL PERCEPTIONS
The changing moral perceptions are one of the major transitions that the societies are
witnessing in the modern society. A number of factors in the society mold the moral changes of a
society. Change being one of the most constant things in the modern society it also affects the
social and the moral ideology of a person in the present society. One of the most important
questions raised in this scenario is the cause of the change of moral, ways to understand the
change and understanding the ways in which the changes occur in the society.
The history has shown a constant change in the morality of the society and the
individuals. The morality has constantly seemed to change with the development of the
civilization and a number of factors affect them. As pointed out by Gray & Lovat, (2014), most
important factor that has brought about a change in the moral and cultural ethics in the modern
society is the rise of multiculturalism. In earlier times when the people were divided in the cities
and states based on their ethnicities and cultures and followed a common set of laws and norms.
The morals of the contemporary society were based on these mores and customs rampant within
the society as shown by Bowring, (2016). This gives rise to the Kohlberg dilemma among a
person who is new to culture.
The world has kept on expanding and coming closer to each other with time because of
the growth in technologies and easier communication channels. This made the early trade easy in
the modern context. One thing that is understood by the traders is to trade with another culture
they have to accept it and adapt to it because they have to visit there on a regular basis. This has
exponentially increased with the rise of the multicultural society, where the people from all the
ethnic backgrounds live together and have a common space. This raises a major conflict among
them because of clashing cultures and different morals but with time, people have become adept

2CHANGING MORAL PERCEPTIONS
in accepting the morality of others and try to justify their actions in the shade of the different
scenarios that might have caused it.
This attempt of people to fit in the shoes of others and understand their situations have
led to the Kohlberg dilemma in the modern society. Every action in this situation is seen in both
the social acceptance and the individualistic sense. According to Lotto, Manfrinati & Sarlo,
(2014), the overall scenarios presented maybe wrong in the social sense but when viewed from
the individualistic perspective, the action may seem justified and the perpetrator may get the
sympathy of the masses. For example, a person who had a troubled childhood due to family
issues brewing out of his father’s illicit relationships and illegitimate children may be violent. If
such a person murders one of the illegitimate children of his father who may just have taunted or
poked fun at him, will gather more sympathy because his father had done something socially
wrong. He may be punished for the crime by the court of law but will win public sympathy. Does
that make the killing of an innocent justified?
There is no perfect perspective to answer the questions of moral dilemmas because the
scenarios do not have a fixed perspective and this is what the modern society has learnt. All the
actions were always painted in black and white because they were judges according to a single
set of laws. The changes in the modern morality are occurring because it has learnt to accept the
grey in their shades of black and white. They try to understand the perspectives with empathy. Is
it permanent? No one can be sure but it is the best there is today.

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References
Bowring, F. (2016). The individual and society in Durkheim: Unpicking the contradictions.
European Journal of Social Theory, 19(1), 21-38.
Gray, M., & Lovat, T. (2014). The shaky high moral ground of postmodernist “ethics”. Social
Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 42(3)
Lotto, L., Manfrinati, A., & Sarlo, M. (2014). A new set of moral dilemmas: Norms for moral
acceptability, decision times, and emotional salience. Journal of Behavioral Decision
Making, 27(1), 57-65.