To understand a culture, you must first understand its principles and ethics. Th

Question

To understand a culture, you must first understand its principles and ethics. These standards, also known as a moral code, are the foundation for acceptable behaviors and thinking. Matsumoto and Juang (2008) note that this moral code is created within the “specific culture and society, handed down from one generation to the next” (pp. 102). Each culture has its own set of beliefs about what is appropriate and fair concerning civil rights, duties, and freedoms. Consequently, a culture’s moral code also molds the laws of each culture. For this Discussion, use the Walden Library to search for two articles related to moral reasoning in two different cultures. Consider how and why moral reasoning may vary in different cultures.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 your definition of moral reasoning.

Then, compare two similarities and two differences in moral reasoning when it comes to American culture and Japanese cultures.

Finally, describe two culture-specific factors that might lead to these differences and explain how.

Support your responses using the Learning Resources and the current literature.

Explanation / Answer

As we know, Lawrence Kohlberg, an American psychologist identified three levels in the development of moral reasoning. The lowest stage reflects one's behaviour with regard to the fear of being punished for wrong-doings. In the second level, however, an individual starts identifying the law as the sole authority for determining morality. In contrast to these two levels, the highest level focuses on social contracts which enable a person to look beyond their self interests and take the larger world of consequences into consideration. Keeping this in mind, we can define moral reasoning as the process in which an individual in a particular culture determines what is right and wrong. In other words, an individual, on the basis of his or her cultural norms, attempts to follow or determine appropriate and inappropriate ways of behaving.

When one studies different cultures, one would notice that each culture and its norms are quite different from the other. The same goes for Western and Asian countries. The two cultures serving as a foundation for the comparison of this discussion are American and Japanese cultures. People in Japan often have an interconnectedness or "interdependence and interpersonal engagement of the self", whereas in the American culture, people are highly individualistic (Kitayama et al). As a result, moral reasoning, in the former, takes place keeping in mind one's relationship and position in relation to the others in the group,something that does not happen in the United Status. Moreover, a famous Indian author, A.K. Ramanujan, has also mentioned that Asian countries like India and Japan tend to be quite context-specific and also tend to bend rules when situation calls for it, but the same is not the case for a Western country like America as the culture follows universal principles of morality which are relatively consistent. However, there are similarities between the two cultures which are crucial and are not to be overlooked. Although the cultures are very different, moral reasoning in both occurs on thinking critically and analysing the pros and cons of certain actions. Also, people in both the cultures may display a certain amount of bias in moral reasoning, especially out of love or from possible gains.

Such differences may exist between two or more cultures either due to the kind of learning process that had taken place or the type of laws existing in the cultures. When it comes to learning, children in both the cultures are reared or conditioned in different ways and taught manners or morals which may or may not be different from each other. Also, as laws influence people's moral judgement, one must be aware that laws are different in all cultures. In simpler terms, what might be acceptable in one culture, may turn out to be a criminal offence in another.

References-

Kitayama, S., Markus, H. R., & Kurokawa, M. (2000). Culture, Emotion, and Well-being: Good Feelings in Japan and the United States. Cognition & Emotion,14(1), 93-124. doi:10.1080/026999300379003

Augustine, A. (n.d.). A.K. Ramanujan's. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/7782648/A.K._Ramanujan_s_Is_There_an_Indian_Way_of_Thinking_

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