18d • Articles | Resources
Moral Disengagement Theory
Albert Bandura's theory of Moral Disengagement explains how ordinary people can commit harmful acts without seeing themselves as immoral. Rather than abandoning their conscience, people temporarily disconnect it through psychological mechanisms that justify or conceal wrongdoing. Harm can be presented as serving a noble cause, hidden behind sanitized language, shifted onto authority figures, spread across many participants, or directed at people who have been dehumanized or blamed for their own suffering. Bandura argued that these processes are not merely individual failings but are often encouraged by institutions that reward obedience, divide responsibility, and distance decision-makers from the consequences of their actions. His work shows that the greatest threat to morality is not the absence of conscience, but the ease with which conscience can be switched off under social and institutional pressure.
Moral Disengagement, Conscience, Responsibility, Obedience, Dehumanization, Violence, Social Psychology, Institutions, Ethics, Moral Agency.
#albertbandura #moraldisengagement #socialpsychology #ethics #authority #obedience #dehumanization #violence #politicaltheory #socialscience #politicalscience #polscience
1
0 comments
Moral Disengagement Theory
powered by
skool.com/deconstructing-theater-1925
We're deconstructing white supremacy, antiblackness, race, and racism in theater and our daily lives.
Suggested communities
Powered by