ETHICS

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.  Even though 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 in this text that only behavior may be dictated, not ethics.  The term “mores” directly relates to this context.  Mores are ethical standards, which are enforced by social pressure. Groups of people in given professions create ethical standards to give their profession honor.  These groups desire society's approval and they realize that there will always be those among us who 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, those individuals who seek 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 has been previously understood, becomes written laws when individuals do not follow preferred practices.  At that point, pressure from society transforms what was previously an understood rule into a written law or mandate.

  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 from the agents to the clients.  Legally, perhaps Ralph was not obligated to specifically state that a particular benefit was limited.  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.

  If such a scenario repeated itself often enough and involved enough agents and consumers, it is likely that the state would then mandate specific legislation addressing the situation.  Ethics, or mores, already mandate it.  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 such rules have not arisen.  As the need and desire for insurance increase, however, such codes of conduct would arise.  We have seen this in our own 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, which are enforced by social pressure.  In this context, "right" simply means according to the mores and "wrong" means in violation of the mores.  An Eskimo may be acting correctly when they kill their elderly, frail parents 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 is best at explaining 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.  What one individual feels is obviously "right" may not appear so to another.

  We must point out that 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.

It is important to realize that mores make no attempt

to determine what is right or wrong morally,

since that determination comes from the culture itself.

  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 believe the situation right.  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.  That which is contrary to their best interests may often be considered 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, any society would lapse into a state of anarchy that would be intolerable for its members.  While this basic concept is correct, one should not lose sight of the fact, however, 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 were anything worse than being blind, she answered: "Yes.  Being able to see and having no vision." 

End of Chapter 5

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