The effects of social solidarity on moral emotions and morality

Abstract

This paper analyses the impact of social solidarity on moral emotions such as embarrassment, shame and guilt at a social level. The effect of moral emotions on individual morality is presented. The paper emphasizes the fact that solidarity, which is generally perceived as having positive effects, may also produce social anomie. This situation is reached by a silent agreement concerning intellectual fraud which goes unpunished at a social level and can, thus, lead to deviant behaviour being considered tolerable as a result of rational reasoning which could shake social structure.

Keywords

• social solidarity
• moral emotions
• social anomie
• deviance
• tolerable
• social structure