Dynamics of National Morality: Negotiating Values and the State

This dissertation promotes a more nuanced understanding of values in state–society relations. The role of values in these relations is examined using a cultural sociology lens combined with concepts from the sociology of morality and of organizations. In these dynamic processes, I argue, a new national morality is constructed, manifesting changes in power structures, social practices, and state bureaucracies. A focus on state institutions highlights negotiation processes for civil-sphere activity and state reactions. I analyze the public discourse regarding three cases of military violence that instigated public debates, using content analysis of 1,500 newspaper stories. First, I examine generalization dynamics transforming a local occurrence into a national crisis, building on societalization theory. I argue that adding the concept of moral legitimacy enables the expansion of values commitments, and the identification of the attempts of social agents to change institutional practices. The analysis shows this broadening of symbolic elements into a scandal, which challenges power structures and threatens national and civil morals. Second, I focus on policy justifications and promote the addition of moral style to the currently dominant economic style. I argue that policies that involve national moral narratives must include values-based justifications. Consequently, using moral reasoning enables the identification of the cultural mechanisms at work, representing civil-sphere action of social change and the state’s ability to maintain continuity. Third, I use the concept of the social contract to argue that moments in which new values transform into contractual agreements represent dynamics in social power structures. The analysis focuses on the military moral contract and discovers tensions and overlapping interfaces between subcontracts. In the negotiation dynamics, commitments and expectations are redefined, constructing a new contractual status quo of citizenship. The overall project challenges the current attention to the impact of values on state and society relations. The chapters emphasize that in the processes of negotiation, there is a dynamic movement between spheres of action, manifesting social changes in power structures and in state bureaucracies. In the negotiation processes, values are redefined, civil solidarity and a collective sense of belonging are enhanced, and a new national morality is constructed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Sociology

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Bar Oz, Aya

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Levi, Ron

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1807/130129

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/130129