University as Moral Community - Essay Example

?Introduction ‘Society’ is one of the most important and interesting aspects of human life. ‘Society’ is the symbol of evolution of human beings fromprimal state of being to sophisticated and mature state of being. It is through the formation of society that human beings have established a system where people can live in peace, freedom and fulfillment. The intention of human beings in creating a society was to reduce the threat to their lives, survival and peace, which they experienced in ancient times, when there were no societies. Human beings felt that with the formation of a society, they will be able to achieve the goal of equal treatment, peaceful relationship with everyone else and a happy life. However, what they failed to realize was that even though a society can help them in creating a peaceful and just environment under which everyone can live together peacefully, it cannot break the psychological and emotional barriers created by different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Hence, instead of living together under one set of norms and values, people started forming their own communities and making their own rules according to their values and traditions. This led to the creation of many problems, which threatened the peaceful existence of people in the society. To understand these community problems, it is necessary to evaluate the situation through psychological and social perspective. This effort has been taken by the authors Faye J. Crosby and Elisabeth Lubin, in their article “Extending the Moral Community: Logical and Psychological dilemmas.” The authors have discussed the nature of ‘society’ and why the efforts to form one single global society have failed. From the article, it becomes clear that the only solution to the problem of violence and hatred in the society is to ‘forget and forgive’ the past and accept the people as they are, because it is the ‘past’ of the human beings which haunts them psychologically and provoke them to take revenge through violence, hatred and destruction of people belonging to other communities, who they think have done wrong to them. However, people who can take an important step towards eradication of hatred between people from different communities, are the students from educational institution because they are young, open and more willing than their parents to understand and accept people from ‘other’ communities. University as moral community ‘Community’ is an important aspect of the society. It is made of a group of people who share same culture, values and ethnic background and who prefer living together in same area or locality. As ‘community’ is made up of people who share same personal and social values, it allows its members to express themselves freely without the fear of hurting someone’s sentiments or insulting their traditions unknowingly while expressing. Hence, people form communities to feel safe, comfortable and respected. However, society is not made only of religion, ethnicity and traditions. To maintain peace and equilibrium in the society, the system of law and order has been established based on the morals held by people. As it is the morality of people which is the core of the society and communities, the authors of the article “Extending the Moral Community: Logical and Psychological dilemmas,” have kept ‘moral community’ as a focus of their discussion. According to the authors Faye J. Crosby and Elisabeth Lubin, moral community is a “group to whom the rules of justice apply” (1). What they mean is that a community is called a ‘moral community’ when people belonging to that community agree to follow the laws, rules and restrictions that are set by the authorities of the community. The word ‘moral’ in the ‘moral community’ refers to the social principles, ideas about the ‘right and wrong’, values and beliefs that are held by people. Hence, people in moral community follow the same set of rules which are applicable to everyone who belongs to the community. Sadly, the same community structure that one sees in the society, is also flowed by the communities in the university. All the educational institutions in the world have their own rules of conduct, values and behavior. Students belonging to these universities join the universities because they believe in the values and principles that are set by the universities. Hence, they do their best to follow and practice the values and traditions of the university. They abide to the rules made by university authorities and respect them. When a student joins the university, it is assumed by the university authority that he has agreed with the rules of the university and will not falter in his conduct. Moreover, the rules are same for everyone and are applied equally to everyone. This shows that university is nothing but a ‘group of people whom the rules of justice, which are set by the university, apply.’ Hence, university is a ‘moral community’ as everyone in the university has to follow the justice guidelines of the university and anyone who falters is liable to be punished. As this aspect of moral community is applicable even to the group of people in the university, it is called as moral community. Secondly, the university is a moral community because the behavior pattern and social thinking pattern that we get to see in the moral community is also observed in the people belonging to the university. It has been observed that people are positively inclined towards people who belong to their own community and try their best to be fair to them (Crosby and Lubin 1). Not only that but they also hold negative attitude and opinions about people belonging to other communities (Crosby and Lubin 1). This encourages the practice of prejudice and discrimination in the society. People belonging to minor communities experience injustice and feel disadvantageous in every area of life. While people readily forgive the flaws in the members of their own community, they are very harsh and cruel in judging people from other community (Crosby and Lubin 1). The authors have given an example from politics, where US politicians always turn a blind eye to the violence and terrorism practiced by their own countrymen, but show great eagerness to punish harshly the terrorist groups from Middle East countries (Crosby and Lubin 1). This is an example of favoritism. Similar social, behavior, thinking and community patterns are observed in the universities also. Students and the staff in the universities form groups based on their ethnic background, values, nationality and cultural background. Students coming from minority group experience verbal abuse from students belonging to majority ethnic group. They also get unequal treatment and face challenges like discrimination, prejudice and inferior treatment in different aspects of university life. In this way, university is also a form of moral community because even in the university, students belonging to minor community face the same problems and social challenges that people belonging to minor community face in the society as a whole. Thirdly, the unspoken and unwritten law of the moral community states that if a person belonging to one community tries to help people belonging to another community, then he is being disloyal and unfair to his own group members. Usually, these people are out cast and face isolation from their own groups. In the university, if a student tries to communicate or be friendly with students from other community groups, then he is accused of being disloyal to his own group and faces alienation. It is generally believed that education is one such platform where young people from different ethnic backgrounds get an opportunity to learn and share their life experiences under one roof and hence, can break the social barriers formed by the society. However, it does not happen. Even when they get an opportunity to forget their differences and share same values and beliefs, they refuse to accept it and follow the thinking pattern under which they are raised. They are fine when they have laws and rules which restrict the mixing of people belonging to different ethnic and religious groups by providing them separate facilities, social platforms, educational facilities and demographic areas. This is because people are comfortable with their own laws and rules. But when it comes to bringing them together by eliminating the laws and rules that separate them, then they immediately sense threat to their own comfort zone and identity, and become fearful of the chances of living with ‘others’. That is the reason even in the universities, students are found creating groups with students who belong to their community. Hence, one can say that university, in a way, is a moral community. Unfortunately, as society faces war, strikes, hatred, violence and terrorism due to conflict in community, even the university faces the conflict situations in its population. When people transgress Threat to the identity is one of the major causes of distress, depression and fear in human beings. The inherent fear of failure and ‘survival instinct’ does not allow human beings to accept the ‘differences’ and live in harmony. They are always in process of proving their superiority over others by finding some faults in others and insulting them for what they are. In this process, the identity is threatened and people start getting in defensive modes. Rather than behaving normally and with ease, people create a guard around them and move in the society with a mask. The emotional suppression hampers their performance, their communication pattern and their interaction with other people in the society. When the suppressed fears and emotions are too much to handle, it comes out in the form of violence and threat to other people. They feel that they are treated unfairly and that they should get ‘justice.’ However, as they know deep down that they won’t get any justice from people who do not respect their identities, they resort to anti-social activities and violent behavior patterns. Terrorism is nothing but a form of demand for justice in a wrong way. This scenario is observed in university communities also. When students from minority group find that they are becoming target of verbal and psychological abuse by students from majority groups, then they feel insulted and lose interest in education. They feel that their progress and development is not possible because of the way they are treated in the class. They also see that the rules of the university’s ‘student community’ are set according to the majority groups. This adds to their insult and hence, students belonging to minority think that their expressions and rights are being suppressed. Moreover, they realize that even the staff and teachers are no different from their classmates. They observe the same behavior pattern and thinking pattern in their teachers also. The prejudice and discrimination is also visible in the behavior pattern of teachers. Hence, the students belonging to minority group lose hope and trust in the authority and resort to violent means to make their point, and to show others that even they deserve respect and attention that students from majority groups get. So when students are treated negatively, they transgress and create a conflict in university community. There are many ways in which students display and express their anger at the authorities and students. Carrying weapons to class, non-cooperation in class, verbal abuse, revengeful acts, physical abuse and psychological abuse are some of the ways in which students express their anger at the injustice they experience in the moral community of university. The students breaking the rules result in violence, conflict, loss in trust and hopelessness in the society. Sadly, even if some students from majority community are mature and understanding enough to accept and respect the identity of the students from minor community, they are discouraged by students from their own community. As the authors have described, the concept of sacrificing self needs for others seems too far fetched for anyone in a community (Crosby and Lubin 3). The authors have given an example of the conflict between people from Black community and White community in the year 1971. When the desegregation of schools was introduced, they fought with each other finding different faults in the value system of other community (Crosby and Lubin 3). Whites refused to accept that they can learn something new from people from Black community and Blacks refused to accept that their freedom and power won’t be threatened or suppressed in any way after the desegregation of laws (Crosby and Lubin 3). People feel that by accepting the values and beliefs of other communities, they are accepting defeat and inferiority. It creates a dilemma where an acceptance of set of one values leads to rejection of set of other values (Crosby and Lubin 3). Similarly, when the communities of university transgress, it creates such a deep and strong psychological barrier between them that it becomes difficult for the authorities to bring truce between them and establish peace and violence free environment. The conflict results in destruction of the goals of education and instead of generating respect and trust in the authorities and value of education, it creates hatred and anger in the youths of the community. This destroys the very foundation of the society and affects the future of the society in a very negative way. The only way the ruptures of community conflict can be repaired is through acceptance and unconditional appreciation of ‘other’ people. The effort to repair the damage In the article “Extending the Moral Community: Logical and Psychological dilemmas,” the authors have discussed the dilemmas and challenges that society faces when efforts are taken to dissolve the ethnic and moral boundaries by the people in field of sociology and government. The major dilemma is the extent to which a person should feel responsible for the community (Crosby and Lubin 3). People can take concrete actions in building a peaceful community only when they really understand their responsibility. However, the effort to expand the moral community and to form ‘one’ community which will encompass all the people from different class and cultures, has failed. For example, in case of protecting people from AIDS, it is necessary to disclose the names of people who are suffering from AIDS. However, it also means that to protect the right of health of one person, the ‘right to privacy’ of people suffering from AIDS is being taken away (Crosby and Lubin 4). Also, as one starts taking responsibility of expanding the community, then automatically the future generation comes into picture (Crosby and Lubin 5). Moreover, the method of affirmative action has also failed to create peace and harmony in the society. In an attempt to provide justice to people who suffered suppression and loss in the past, the system of ‘affirmative action’ causes injustice and loss to people from current generation (Crosby and Lubin 7). Hence, affirmative action has failed to achieve the goal of creating harmony and hatred free relationship between people from different communities. Hence, effort to expand moral community increases the burden on people’s mind and they begin to fear the very idea of expanding. Moreover, people find it very difficult to form a platform where the best of both the values can be accepted to form a new set of values. Their own values are so ingrained in their minds since childhood that they fail to accept that even other community has ‘right’ and good’ values which are life enhancing and positive. The failure to find a boundary or limits to the expansion has led people to remain limited to their own community and enjoy the freedom and power that they get by remaining confined to their own community. However, as every problem has a solution, there are solution to the problem of violence and hatred also. The only thing that is needed is to understand the roots of the problem and try to solve it from the roots rather than trying to just clean the surface and find quick fix solutions. Ways to peaceful community Some of the ways in which the community boundary in universities can be dissolved are as follows: 1. Acceptance: To accept that students from other community and with different values have every right to live in the community with equal respect, freedom and peace. 2. Intervention: It is a right and duty of every student in the university to stop the injustice and unfair treatment being suffered by students from other communities, even if they are unaware of the injustice and the unfair treatment that they are getting. It is not easy to bring out a person from comfort zone of a ‘negative’ environment. Students from higher socio-economic background can feel that people from other communities are being a burden on them as they are neither ready to change themselves nor ready to accept the support and help when offered. This is similar to what authors have described as ‘white man’s burden’ (Crosby and Lubin 5). However, they should realize that society can be a happy place only when everyone in the society is getting fair share of resources and opportunities that the society has to offer. Hence, consistent and sincere efforts are needed to be made to make life comfortable for students from minor community. 3. Gaining cultural knowledge: Development of respect and acceptance of values and traditional beliefs of other culture is possible only when one knows the reasons and meanings behind the beliefs and values held by people coming from different cultures. Hence, instead of discarding the customs, traditions and beliefs of people from other culture as inferior and unworthy, one should try to understand the depth and meaning behind them. To expand the moral community of students in the university, it is very important to give them knowledge and understanding of the foundation of traditions and customs of people from different cultural backgrounds. This will help them to understand why people from other communities behave, talk, think, feel, and express the way they do. In doing so, the boundaries and divisions between the moral communities in university can be dissolved and it can be restored to peaceful existence. Conclusion There is a certain limit to the help people can provide to people from other community, and include them in their own community. However, despite of these limitations, people from educated and evolved communities should make efforts in focused way to repair the damages done by divisions between different moral communities. It will not only assure peace and fulfillment in the present, but will also help in building a happy and violence free world for future generations. Work Cited Crosby, Faye, and Elisabeth Lubin. “Extending the Moral Community: Logical and Psychological dilemmas.” Journal of Social Issues. 46.1(1990): 163-172. Print. Read More