Finding the moral space: Rethinking morality, social class and worldviews

As social beings, we are compelled to take moral position toward one another but the nature of the relationship between morality and social structure remains a point of discussion. This article proposes a relational perspective on the debate, which involves reconceptualizing moral views as simultaneously status markers and attempts to achieve self-worth. In order to do so, the argument borrows from Bourdieu a depiction of the class structure as a multidimensional space and follows Douglas’s understanding of culture and worldviews. The argument is supported by an analysis of an experimental survey design, relying on vignette questions to gauge moral worldviews. The data are processed using Multiple Correspondence Analysis, revealing that (1) people exhibit a consistency in their moral position-taking and that (2) a strong homology exists between the moral space and the space of social classes