I think culture has a fairly large influence on ethical decision making, as the mindset of a culture often influences the decision making process of an individual of that culture.
To provide some background, in the 1980's Harry Triandis first clearly differentiated between individualistic and collectivist cultures, developing and defining their differences, and how they effect behavior and personalities. An individualistic culture focuses more on the individual, with more focus on personal goals, self-reliance, and less worried about conformity. These cultures are common in countries influenced by Northern Europeans, such as the U.S, Australia, and Canada. A collectivist culture focuses more on the group that the person is a part of, with indiciduals interpreting themselves as an extension of a group, focus on the good of the group, and rewards for achievements of the group, rather than their own. Collectivist cultures occur typically in Japan and Puerto Rico (which is technically part of the U.S as a territory, but let's not get into that) Of course, these traits aren't in only one group or the others,- these conclusions in general can't be overly sweeping. Indiviualistic and Collectivistic are more two ends of a spectrum which cultures can be found on.
What traits the different groups put greater emphasis on (self vs. community, conformity vs nonconformity, etc.) has an effect on how someone reasons out an ethical decision, as what they view as the "right" decision will probably be heavily influenced by how they've been brought up. A lot of culture gets passed through family, and what people as children observe in their parents and other family members often reflects in their later decisions. In class, I think, we watched the video about the professor who offered his class 2 or 6 extra credit points. However, if more than 10% of people chose 6 points, then no one in the class would get points. If someone has been brought up in a culture that emphasizes putting one's self first, then perhaps they would be more likely to choose the 6 points. But perhaps a person brought up in a collectivist culture would be more likely to think of the group as a whole.
However, this decision is ultimately up to the individual, which is why ethics falls more in the domain of personal knowledge. The shared knowledge of the culture will be shared and spread, and it can have an influence on someone's ethical views, but the opinion will ultimately belong to the person.
I completely agree with all the following statements you have made about what influences ethical decision-making. In my response to this question as well, I thought culture indeed has a significant influence on what a person thinks is "right" or "wrong" leading him/her to make an ethical decision. The detailed insight you gave about individualistic and collectivist cultures was very interesting. The examples of countries you gave that ere either more individualistic or collectivist was completely logical. For example, it can easily be seen that people are raised with individualistic cultures in areas such as the US, whereas people are raised with a collectivist mind-set in areas such as Japan--which are more family oriented. These mind sets for sure effect how a person thinks, determining that person's perspective on what is "right" or "wrong" (the basis for making an ethical decision).
ReplyDeleteAlso similar to my response, you also mentioned that these are all influences and he final decision is up to the individual, which makes ethics fall more toward the category of personal knowledge.