Opening Constructive Dialogues Between Business Ethics Research and the Sociology of Morality: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium

Abstract

Over the last decade, scholars across the wide spectrum of the discipline of sociology have started to reengage with questions on morality and moral phenomena. The continued wave of research in this field, which has come to be known as the new sociology of morality, is a lively research program that has several common grounds with scholarship in the field of business ethics. The aim of this thematic symposium is to open constructive dialogues between these two areas of study. In this introductory essay, we briefly present the project of the new sociology of morality and discuss its relevance for business ethics. We also review the contributions to this thematic symposium and identify four specific domains where future research can contribute to fruitful dialogues between the two fields. Keywords Business ethics • Context • Morality • New sociology of morality • Sociology Moral phenomena-i.e. those related to evaluations of actions, actors, norms, and practices as right or wrong, good or bad, desirable or undesirable-constitute the primary sphere of interest for many disciplines and fields within cognitive, behavioral, and social sciences. While the most general explanations of human moral capacity are usually

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