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Elliot Turiel
University of California - Berkley
Elliot Turiel, who holds the title of Chancellor's professor at Berkley, has written extensively of social judgments and moral reasoning. His recent writings include The Development of Social Knowledge: Morality and Convention and The Culture of Morality: Social Development, Context, and Conflict. Turiel's research on the development of moral judgment in children and adolescents and the understanding of social systems has contributed to the areas of child development and education. In the following interview, Professor Turiel shares his views on societal arrangements, cultural practices, and morality.
NAJP: What are you currently working on/researching/writing?
ET: Most of my current research and writing deals with how people approach societal arrangements and cultural practices they judge morally wrong. We have been finding that in everyday life there is a fair amount of conflict among different groups of people, and that those in positions of lesser power in the social hierarchy engage in resistance and subversion towards the aims of changing practices that are perceived as wrong. This occurs among people in lower socio-economic classes, minorities, and women. A main focus of my research has been on how women deal with inequalities and injustices. We have been finding that girls and women will judge deception in marital situations as necessary (though undesirable) in order to get around the control that is exerted upon them by males. More generally, women in many cultures (especially traditional ones) use a variety of strategies to get around injustices.
NAJP: "Many who lie are honest people." Is this not incongruous? Paradoxical? Immoral and unethical?
ET: In a chapter on "Subversion in Everyday Life" in my recent book, The Culture of Morality, I have a sub-heading, "Many who lie are honest people." That subheading was meant to highlight that we should not approach issues around lies, truths, and trust with general characterizations of people as having traits like honest or dishonest. There are deeper moral and social issues involved in people's decisions as to tell the truth or lie. In the philosophical literature there is discussion of what one should do if a murderer asks you to tell him where his intended victim has gone. Should you tell the truth? Are you obligated to lie? We know that...