When creating an accurate and representative study, it is essential to gather and interpret existing literature on similar or related content to that of our own study. This is important to construct a foundational understanding of the themes, contexts and concepts we may have to discuss within our own research. Below are two articles I found especially interesting to relate to our study which provide us with a greater understanding of some fundamental concepts including the law and its relationship to morality.
Green, L. C (1970) Law and Morality in a Changing Society. The University of Toronto Law Journal, 20 (4) pp. 422–447.
Within this article, Green ponders on the relationship between definitions and interpretations of a societies established ‘laws’, and how it influences a generalised sense of ‘morality’ for those governed by these laws.
Within the article, Green recognises that there is no hierarchy in international law; one countries morality surrounding the enforcement of law is no better than another – it is just assumed necessary for that country’s notion of ‘orderly conduct’. This means that law and morality should not be judged from a prejudiced and ethnocentric perspective, there is not one ‘true’ construct of law – it depends on a country’s individuality of right/wrong and what is deemed most appropriate to the functioning of their unique social order.
He also argues that morality is shaped by law that one is exposed to. He argues that from a functional point of view, law may be regarded as the means by which society ensures that its mores are protected by its institutions. This means that a hardening of society’s concept of right and wrong shape an accepted code of behaviour, relative to that place.
This article may be beneficial to the study through the assessment of bias in a travellers interpretation of law. Morality may be arguably separated from the objectivity of law as what is immoral in one country may not be considered immoral in another. Morality can therefore be viewed as a fluid concept with no objective grounding in ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.
Walker, N. and Argyle, M. (1964) Does the Law Affect Moral Judgements? The British Journal of Criminology, 4, (6) pp. 570–581
Within this article, both Walker and Argyle use a range of theoretical understandings to question whether the law plays a role in altering moral judgements on those exposed to it. Discussing themes of legal prohibition as a form of deterrent and its enforcement on morally ambiguous concepts such as homosexuality, the argument that law does not necessarily reflect ‘right’ judgements is made. As a social construction, the article seeks to explain law as a concept that is open to interpretation regarding morals, and does not reflect ‘right’ from ‘wrong’.
Furthermore, the article discusses themes of majority preference and a consensus of morality. Walker and Argyle refer to studies in which people’s sense of moral issues, aesthetic preference and religious status are influences by what they are informed as being the majority view. Referring to Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet’s (1948) concept of the ‘band-waggon effect’ the authors conclude that one of the primary functions of the criminal law is to establish a shared consensus of morals within a given society with the aim of influencing people’s individual morals to conform to a reinforced standard.
This article may be beneficial to our study by explaining why people’s sense of morality is able to adapt and change drastically depending on the context that they are in. Those that experience this may be simply conforming to a different cultural standard that is subtly influenced by an overarching influence of the law.
Whose Law is it Anyway? 