Business Ethics

Chapter 7

MORES

  Mores are customs that are enforced by social pressure.  Mores are relative to culture.  They are established by patterns of action to which the individual is expected to conform and from which deviation may bring disapproval and perhaps even punishment.  While these standards are considered to be a matter of ethics, they may vary from society to society.

The Thorndike Barnhart Comprehensive dictionary defines mores:
mo.res, noun:  traditional rules; customs; manners.

  We stated previously that only behavior may be dictated, not ethics.  The term mores works directly into this context.  Mores are ethical standards that are generally enforced by social pressure.  Groups of people in given professions create ethical standards to give their profession honor.  The group desires society's approval and they realize that there will always be those among them that will not voluntarily follow ethical procedures.  As a result, mores are developed.

  Many types of professions deal with knowledge that the average person simply would not have; insurance is one of those professions.  As a result, individuals seeking out the professionals must rely upon their honesty and integrity.  A feeling of ethical standards (which are enforced by social pressure) must exist.  It was the potential for abuse of power and knowledge that provided sets of rules or what is often called ethical standards.  Sometimes ethics are written standards; sometimes they are merely understood.  Often ethics, which have previously been "understood," become written laws when some individuals within the group do not follow preferred practices.  At that point, pressure from society makes these "rules" into written laws or mandates.

  For example, Terrance is new to the insurance industry.  Therefore, he eagerly accepted when Ralph offered to take him into the field so that Terrance could see how to generate a sale.  At their first appointment, Terrance noticed that Ralph did not fully disclose a limited benefit that the client had directly asked about.  When they were back in Ralph's car after the appointment, Terrance asked about it.

  Terrance: "It was probably just an oversight, but you didn't tell Mr. Macky about the limitation on that benefit he asked about."

  Ralph: "Look, do you want to make a living or not?  No, it wasn't an oversight.  By law, that is not something that I specifically must state.  It's in the material I left him.  It's his responsibility to read it all.  If he doesn't, that's his problem.  I'm not a baby-sitter, you know."

  Even with the limited training that Terrance had received, he knew that company policy mandated complete information be relayed by their selling agents.  Even when not legally obligated to specifically state that a particular benefit is limited there is an ethical responsibility. Ethically, Terrance knew Ralph should have openly answered Mr. Macky's question.  Of course, if it ever came up, it was likely that Ralph would claim he had done so. 

  This presents a stressful situation for Terrance who may have few options.  It is likely he should still relay the information to someone, but he is the new guy at the agency while Ralph is well-known there and liked.

  If Ralph’s activities are repeated often enough and enough other agents commit the same type of selling technique, the state may eventually mandate specific legislation addressing the situation.  This is likely the result of consumer complaints since agents do not usually report unethical behavior.  Ethics, or mores, already mandate full disclosure, but laws often have to be written to provide states with options when agents violate ethical behavior (in other words, laws provide fines and other measures that do not exist without the law).  If Terrance had polled a portion of the population, it is nearly certain that the majority would state they felt Ralph was obligated to be completely truthful about his product.  Therefore, complete information is a custom, which is enforced by social pressure.  Mores are established patterns of action to which an individual is expected to conform.

  Mores vary from culture to culture because how people live and what is important to them vary from culture to culture.  For example, an insurance agent probably would not have many rules (resulting from society's pressure) in cultures that have no past experience with insurance.  Since it has not been a part of their culture, the need for specific rules may not be known.  As the need and desire for insurance increases, however, types of codes of conduct would arise.  We have seen this in the United States.  When Medicare was first introduced, there were relatively few rules or regulations on the design of Medicare supplemental insurance policies.  As abuses mounted, standards were implemented because the need for them brought about pressure from our society.

  With mores (this is always mores with an s on the end), it must be understood that the term relates to customs and not always laws, although those customs often develop into laws.  Mores are always customs that are enforced by social pressure.  In this context, "right" simply means according to the mores and "wrong" means in violation of the mores.  An ancient Eskimo culture may be acting correctly when they allowed their elderly, frail parents to die according to their mores.  In our society, the same act would be wrong according to our mores.

  We bring the term, mores, into this course because it best explains why ethical behavior may not be the same everywhere or even from culture to culture in the same country.  The United States is said to be a melting pot and this goes a long way in explaining the diversity we experience.  It also explains why we must mandate certain behavior when cultures do not conform to what the majority of our citizen’s desire.  Differing opinions on some topics are allowable but when differing opinions suggest harm might come to another person, America cannot tolerate it.  For example, a man originally from another country killed his wife and children with an ax because she was preparing to divorce him.  In his country, this act was considered appropriate due to his wife's impending actions.  In his country, his wife and children "belonged" to him.  However, since he was living in America now, his actions were not only unethical, but illegal as well.  Therefore, he was expected to live according to our laws and customs.

  Mores do not automatically make an action right or wrong; mores make no attempt to actually determine what is right or wrong morally.  They simply define what is right or wrong according to the given culture.

  A good example of this has to do with the slavery that existed in the United States.  It was the custom in some areas to own slaves.  Those who lived with those customs generally tended to support slavery.  That belief (which is a mores) did not necessarily make it morally correct.  There is the tendency in any group of people to consider their best interests to be right while anything contrary to their best interests may be labeled wrong.  In fact, it might be argued that mores often tend to be negative to one group of people and positive to another group of people.

  As a whole, however, mores tend to be the general rule of conduct for the society in its totality.  Generally speaking, it is right for the members of the culture to follow the mores because they developed from the group in its entirety.  Without mores, societies would lapse into a state of anarchy and that would be intolerable for its members.  While this basic concept is correct, one should not lose sight of the fact that not all mores are morally acceptable.  There is certainly some obligation to conformity in our society for the good of all.  If one is deviating from the generally accepted code of behavior, that individual might wish to consider the possibility that his or her deviation has to do with personal gain.  If this is the case, that deviation cannot be rationalized away.

  When Helen Keller was asked if there was anything worse than being blind, she answered, "Yes.  Being able to see and having no vision."

End of Chapter 7

United Insurance Educators, Inc.