Culture and Moral Development

Another criticism of Kohlberg’s view is that it is culturally based. A review of research on moral development in 27 countries concluded that moral reasoning is more culture-specific than Kohlberg envisioned and that Kohlberg’s scoring system does not recognize higher-level moral reasoning in certain cultural groups (Snarey, 1987). Examples of higher-level moral reasoning that would not be scored as such by Kohlberg’s system include values related to communal equity and collective happiness in Israel, the unity and sacredness of all life-forms in India, and the relation of the individual to the community in New Guinea. These examples of moral reasoning would not be scored at the highest level in Kohlberg’s system because they do not emphasize the individual’s rights and abstract principles of justice. One study assessed the moral development of 20 adolescent male Buddhist monks in Nepal. This issue of justice, a basic theme in......

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Title: Moral Development
Approximate Word Count: 363
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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