Moral Judgement on the Use of Market System Ideology in Social Domains

The current study examined whether people would make moral judgements on the use of money to solve a societal issue. We employed real-life examples described by Sandel (2012) and utilised deontological and utilitarian moral views and moral foundations theory to address their reasoning for moral judgements. College students (N = 303 in Study 1 and N = 98 in Study 2) were asked to read the events regarding the use of monetary value and to make moral judgements. Other logical and affective reactions to these events and individual difference measures were also asked. The results showed that they were morally opposed to the nature of these events or at least ambivalent. Correlational and regression analyses showed that an emotional reaction to the event was strongly related to their moral judgement and the consideration of benefiting society and individual freedom also contributed to their judgement. Study 2 asked participants for their estimates of Americans' views on these issues. The consensus measures indicated that using market ideology in social events is considered morally wrong or at least having a moral component when compared to morally deemed issues.