Moral decay, inequality, and the perception of corruption: the reproduction of bribery as a social norm

Mind and Society 23 (1):123-143 (2024)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In the paper, the role of a citizen, a public official, and an observer in the reproduction of bribery as a social norm are each analyzed. To make the analysis of this cellular-social form of corruption, three variables are incorporated: the agent’s perception of how widespread the corruption is, the agent’s available resources with which to act, and the role of moral values. Later, some scenarios of normalization and denormalization of corruption are explored, making different assumptions regarding the analysis and assignment of agents to different roles in the interactions. What was found is that power relations among corrupt and non-corrupt agents are key for understanding the social reproduction of bribery, where inequality might facilitate the social reproduction of corruption. The role of the observer of the interaction of bribe-givers, bribe-takers, and bribe-resisting agents was also found to potentially tip the balance in the direction of normalization or denormalization of bribery. Hence, giving the observer tools to intervene in these interactions becomes essential to combat corruption.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 101,337

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Causes of Demand for International Bribery.Edwin Moore Jr - 2007 - Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies 12 (2):18-23.
Recognizing and Justifying Private Corruption.C. Gopinath - 2008 - Journal of Business Ethics 82 (3):747-754.
I Know What I Need: Optimization of Bribery.Shusen Qi - 2020 - Journal of Business Ethics 174 (2):311-332.

Analytics

Added to PP
2024-07-11

Downloads
9 (#1,523,857)

6 months
9 (#485,111)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Corruption as systemic political decay.Camila Vergara - 2021 - Philosophy and Social Criticism 47 (3):322-346.

Add more references