The smug "virtue" of the Ethical Shopper

[Cain]

I think most people honestly treat morality in this way - I was "good" at X, therefore I'm allowed to be a little bad at Y

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/15/green-consumers-more-likely-steal

According to a study, when people feel they have been morally virtuous by saving the planet through their purchases of organic baby food, for example, it leads to the "licensing [of] selfish and morally questionable behaviour", otherwise known as "moral balancing" or "compensatory ethics".

Do Green Products Make Us Better People is published in the latest edition of the journal Psychological Science. Its authors, Canadian psychologists Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong, argue that people who wear what they call the "halo of green consumerism" are less likely to be kind to others, and more likely to cheat and steal. "Virtuous acts can license subsequent asocial and unethical behaviours," they write.

This also helps explain how religion turns people into assholes and Well-Intentioned Extremists/Knight Templars generally.

[Kai]

If the norm is to balance Virtu with Avirtu, then what happens when a person doesn't? Are there social consequences?

[Fredfredly ⊂(◉‿◉)つ]

just like when i run alot im allowed to eat lots of bacon cheeseburgers 

since everyone on pd is an asshole, that makes us all good for the environment right??

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

(I earned this by purchasing a bicycle:)

CLEARLY THE OIL LOBBY FUNDED YOUR FRAUDULENT STUDY,

(I earned this by buying materials for composting:)

ASSHOLES.

(I earned this by buying 100% recycled paper:)

GET HIT BY A RECYCLING TRUCK.

[Faust]

What springs to mind is corruption within positions of responsibility.
The longer a person is in a position of responsibility, especially in dealing with other people such as with politicians police or healthcare the mentality "I've done this much in a thankless job, I DESERVE to do X".
Over time X becomes more and more alarming as the person gets used to more entitlement. This might be a good place to spot the early onset of it.... I'll beat up anyone I see buying any fair trade products at work.

[the last yatto]

hey i like the exemplars, its Europe's failed attempt to create a samurai/warrior class

[Cain]

If the norm is to balance Virtu with Avirtu, then what happens when a person doesn't? Are there social consequences?

Mabye.  I could imagine a certain level of resentment towards people who treat ethics as a matter of personal integrity rather than a sort of balance sheet.  "They think they're better than us" and so on.

I would imagine there are also personal repurcussions for the person who doesn't act in this way.  It would be pretty frustrating, dealing with such people.

What springs to mind is corruption within positions of responsibility.
The longer a person is in a position of responsibility, especially in dealing with other people such as with politicians police or healthcare the mentality "I've done this much in a thankless job, I DESERVE to do X".
Over time X becomes more and more alarming as the person gets used to more entitlement. This might be a good place to spot the early onset of it.... I'll beat up anyone I see buying any fair trade products at work.

Yeah, absolutely.  I hadn't considered the entitlement angle, thinking more generally, but that would definitely be a facet of it.

[Cain]

hey i like the exemplars, its Europe's failed attempt to create a samurai/warrior class

So do I.  The trope name comes from their depiction in Kingdom of Heaven, which was a little bit unhistorical.  To put it mildly.

[Reginald Ret]

this kind of ethical balancing is why i invented the evil only system.
Evil points or GTFOMP!

[Kai]

If the norm is to balance Virtu with Avirtu, then what happens when a person doesn't? Are there social consequences?

Mabye.  I could imagine a certain level of resentment towards people who treat ethics as a matter of personal integrity rather than a sort of balance sheet.  "They think they're better than us" and so on.

I would imagine there are also personal repurcussions for the person who doesn't act in this way.  It would be pretty frustrating, dealing with such people.

I ask because either this balance sheet is a recent thing or there would be long term sociobiological reasons for it's incidence.

Or perhaps its one of those things that isn't socially selected upon.

[Cain]

I thought that might be the cause of your query.  I wondered pretty much the same thing.  I think it might be a relatively recent cultural innovation, but a) I have no evidence for that, and b) even if it was, it would, at some level, likely still have a sociobiological base that the cultural inclination is reinforcing.

[LMNO]

This brings to mind the various, numerous, and omnipresent Catholic Church sex scandals.

[Jasper]

The ethical balancing act strikes me as very plausible.  I notice myself doing it all the time without knowing why. 

Now I think I'll actively attempt to be as avirtuous as possible for a little while, and see if I end up feeling like being  saintly and benevolent.

[Cain]

I predict you will feel unappreciated and that most people around you are dicks.

[Jenne]

I predict you will feel unappreciated and that most people around you are dicks.

Dammit, I feel this way already, though.