Vol. XXXVIII / 1 - Studia Moralia

248 STEPHEN T. REHRAUER
quality of the individual, whereas in the other, in the acts he/she
performs.
We should not miss the importance here of the impact that
social mechanisms have upon considerations of group
membership. Membership criteria specify the conditions of
entitlement to equal or equitable treatment. They often also
justify excluding those who are not members of the social group
from the same equal treatment. Social membership often leads
to the assimilation of social stereotypes and culturally
embedded myths which define the criteria for membership in
the reduced social group. As Tajfel observes:
Once this has occurred, an individual has no need to
construct his own justifications of inequity or injustice, so long
as acts which are oppressive, exploiting, cruel, unjust or
generally ‘inhuman’ are committed against certain groups whose
members are socially or culturally characterized as being
beyond the range within which apply certain principles
(whatever they may be), of interpersonal conduct. 43
Social reality is further complicated by the fact that people
belong to more than one group at a time. Even within the
domain of an egalitarian membership structure, the very nature
of social life requires that each member adopt different roles at
different times, the roles themselves being organized
hierarchically within the broader social organization. A normal
individual must develop the ability to move freely between the
two types of justice orientation and learn the rules of how and
when to apply these appropriately. 44 Moral confusion can easily
43
H. TAJFEL, “Intergroup Relations, Social Myths and Social Justice,” in
H. TAJFEL, ed., The Social Dimension, Vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1984), p. 698.
44
For an enlightening presentation of the influence of this social reality
upon the nature of morality, the processes of moral judgment, and moral
development of the ability to manage justice concepts, see W. KURTINES,
“Moral Behavior as Rule-Governed Behavior: A Psychosocial Role-
Theoretical Approach to Moral Behavior and Development,” in W. KURTINES
and J. GEWIRTZ, eds., Morality, Moral Behavior, and Moral Development (New
York: John Wiley & Sons, 1984), pp. 303-324.