Moral identity, identification and emotion: a relational and interactive approach

ABSTRACT

This paper extends a relational theory of the interconnection between morality, identity, and emotion. We argue that interactional identification with others is central to the development of the moral self, which begins early in childhood as we become the object of the emotional-evaluative attitude of others––becoming a subject to ourselves––while also identifying with others and with the values they embody. This position is extended in contrast to social philosophical ideas of morality and identity, central to which is the notion of narrative identity, and to sociological social psychology where identity theory is taken to be pivotal to understanding the self as driven by the need for verification. In our view, neither of these approaches sufficiently recognise how moral identities are moulded within social relations, interactions, and the identifications these engender. Nor do they take adequate account of the embodied, emotional and intuitional basis of moral identity. We draw on G. H. Mead’s theory of the self and moral socialisation to provide a theory of moral selfhood formed within social relations and interactions, while extending his arguments via insight from C. H. Cooley and M. M. Bakhtin to give greater attention to emotional evaluation.

KEYWORDS:

• Morality
• emotions
• self
• G. H. Mead
• narrative identity
• identity theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Blumer’s ‘appropriation’ of Mead has been described by Silva (2013, p. 464) as being ‘partly responsible for a narrow understanding of the extent of Mead’s contributions to contemporary sociology’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Owen Abbott

Dr Owen Abbott is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow with Cardiff University. His research predominantly focuses on the sociology of morality (with a particular emphasis on everyday practice), sociologies of the self, and relational sociology. His current project investigates forgiveness in personal relationships. His first book, The Self, Relational Sociology, and Morality in Practice, won the BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize 2020 for best first and sole-authored book in sociology.

Ian Burkitt

Ian Burkitt is Emeritus Professor of Social Identity at the University of Bradford, UK. His research interests are centred on issues of social relations and the formation of identity, embodiment, emotions, and agency. He has published on these topics in books such as Social Selves (Sage, 1991; second edition 2008), Bodies of Thought (Sage, 1999), and Emotions and Social Relations (Sage, 2014).