Jefferson, A., Heinrichs, J., & Sifferd, K. (2024).
Topoi.
Abstract
Recent work on ecological accounts of moral responsibility and agency have argued for the importance of social environments for moral reasons responsiveness. Moral audiences can scaffold individual agents’ sensitivity to moral reasons and their motivation to act on them, but they can also undermine it. In this paper, we look at two case studies of ‘scaffolding bad’, where moral agency is undermined by social environments: street gangs and online incel communities. In discussing these case studies, we draw both on recent situated cognition literature and on scaffolded responsibility theory. We show that the way individuals are embedded into a specific social environment changes the moral considerations they are sensitive to in systematic ways because of the way these environments scaffold affective and cognitive processes, specifically those that concern the perception and treatment of ingroups and outgroups. We argue that gangs undermine reasons responsiveness to a greater extent than incel communities because gang members are more thoroughly immersed in the gang environment.
Here are some thoughts:
The paper explores the concept of "scaffolding bad" in moral agency, focusing on how social environments can negatively influence an individual's moral reasoning and behavior. The authors examine two case studies: street gangs and online incel communities, to demonstrate how certain social environments can undermine moral reasons responsiveness.
The research draws on situated cognition literature and scaffolded responsibility theory to explain how social environments shape cognitive and affective processes. The concept of scaffolding is central to the argument, describing how organisms use their environment to perform functions they couldn't do alone. However, the authors emphasize that scaffolding isn't always beneficial and can lead to what they term "hostile scaffolding" - environmental structures that shape cognition and emotion against an individual's interests.
Key to the paper's argument is the idea that moral reasons responsiveness depends heavily on social environments. These environments can either support or corrupt moral cognition by influencing how individuals perceive and treat ingroups and outgroups. The authors argue that gangs are particularly problematic, as they more thoroughly immerse members in a harmful environment and are more difficult to leave compared to online incel communities.
The research highlights how social feedback plays a crucial role in developing moral agency. This feedback not only provides information about right and wrong but also motivates individuals to be sensitive to moral and social norms. Over time, this external feedback becomes internalized, shaping an individual's moral reasoning even in the absence of direct social oversight.
Ultimately, the paper demonstrates the complex ways in which social environments can scaffold moral agency, sometimes reinforcing harmful values and limiting empathy towards others. By comparing street gangs and online incel communities, the authors provide insight into how different social contexts can systematically alter an individual's moral sensitivity and reasons responsiveness.
