Short Communication Social and political complexity and moral de- velopment

In this study the authors aim to investigate empirically the relationship between Kohlberg's stages of moral develop-ment and exposure to political and social complexity. The sample consisted of 68 Social Work I students of the Uni-versity of the Witwatersrand, 35 white and 33 black subjects, ranging in age from 18-24 years. Data were obtained by the use of a biographical questionnaire and Taylor's Reason for Action Questionnaire. Each instrument, respectively, allowed for the generation of data concerning subjects ' exposure to political and social complexity, and Kohlberg's levels of moral reasoning. The stage of moral reasoning attained by the re-spondents was represented by frequency counts. More than half of the subjects demonstrated a capacity to reason with stage five post-conventional moral reasoning, a stage rarely attained by individuals under the age of 24 years (Kohlberg)