Fundações morais e sociedade: caracterização da fundação moral justiça/trapaça de categorias sociais hierarquizadas

Abstract

Morality is an established topic of investigation in the field of human sciences; classical thinkers such as Aristotle and Immanuel Kant have addressed the topic. Still, there is no consensus in scientific circles about the definition of what underpins the moral principles of a society. Based on the Moral Foundations Theory, the present work proposed to analyze the adherence to the moral foundation fairness/cheating of Brazilians based on the categories race, income, and education. The sample was composed of 951 adults living in the city of Uberlândia-MG, aged between 18 and 45 years. The participants were interviewed using a questionnaire divided into two sections: one with assertions referring to relational models, moral foundations, and social justice, with a single answer format, among which three assertions are referring to the fairness/cheating. The data analysis was carried out in an explanatory way, using the statistical program PSPP. It was observed that the agreement with the assertions referring to the fairness/ cheating foundation did not present great variations when considering the categories studied. However, a divergence was observed between the agreement rates based on the structure of the statements - those elaborated in such a way as to make the concept of justice broad, obtained massive acquiescence from the participants, while the one in which justice is approached in a practical way - relative to inheritance - shows discrepancies in the categories income and education. From this, the impact of different conceptualizations of justice on the study of morality was discussed.