Sociology of Morality – an Empirical Science of Moral Phenomena and Processes Occurring in Communities of Different Scales

Abstract

Sociology of morality as a subdiscipline of sociology has a particular position, as it is rarely represented either in Poland or in other countries, even those that have a rich sociological tradition. The main reason for this situation are two kinds of difficulties that sociologists face when they study moral facts and phenomena. The first source of troubles is the very defining of the range of the concept of morality. Another key question is the necessity to work out and to use in practice such a methodological formula that can protect a sociologist of morality from falling into ethical dogmatism, and at the same time will not allow him to make the mistake of moral sociologism (i.e. recognizing the actual state that he finds as a binding norm).

The research attitude of a sociologist of morality emphasizes pluralism (environmental, cultural, historical) and changeability of moral form as well as shows the dynamics of morality within a longer period. At the same time on the ground of sociology of morality various forms of “reference to values” occur. For a representative of sociology of morality the necessity to separate the empirical facts he finds from an interpretation of these facts relativized to his own views of morality remains the key problem.

Despite the existence of these differences in opinions about defining morality that can be seen between particular researchers developing this discipline allows to understand better the mechanisms ensuring balance and continuation in social life as well as making a precise diagnosis of the existing state and to interpret more fully the trends and changes occurring in the postmodernist society.