gender differential paper IJCRB

ijcrb.webs.com
JUNE 2011
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS VOL 3, NO 2
• Stage 2: The instrumental purpose orientation. Children view right action as flowing
from self-interest. Reciprocity is understood as equal exchange of favours.
2. The Conventional Level: At this level, individuals continue to regard conformity to
social rules as important, but not for reasons of self interest. Rather, they believe that
actively maintaining the current social system ensures positive human relationships and
social order. This level consists of following stages:
• Stage 3: The “good boy-good girl" orientation. Individuals want to maintain the
affection and approval of friends and relatives by being a “good person”-trust
worthy, loyal, respectful, helpful, and nice.
• Stage 4: The social order maintaining orientation. The individual believes that laws
can not be disobeyed under any circumstances because they are vital for ensuring
societal order and cooperative relations between individuals.
3. The Post-conventional Level: Individuals at this level move beyond unquestioning
support for the rule and laws of their own society. they defines morality in terms of
abstract principles and values that apply to all situations and societies. This level consist
of two stages:
• Stage 5 : The Social Contract Orientation. Individuals regard laws and rules as
flexible instruments for furthering human purposes.
• Stage 6: The Universal ethical principle orientation. Individuals typically mention
such principles as equal consideration of the claims of all human beings and respect
for the worth and dignity of each person.
Although there is much support for Kohlberg’s theory, it continues to face challenges. The most
important of these concern Kohlberg’s conception of moral maturity and the appropriateness of
his stages for characterizing the moral reasoning of young children.
A key controversy has to do with Kohlberg’ belief that moral maturity is not achieved until the
postconventional level. Byet if people had to reach stages 5 and six to be considered truly
morally mature. Gibbs (2003) argues that “postconventional morality” should not be viewed as
the standardagainst which other levels are judged immature. Gibbs finds maturity in a revised
understanding of stages 3 and 4. these stages are not “conventional,” or based on social
conformity, as Kohlberg assumed. Instead, they require profound moral constructions-and
understanding of ideal reciprocity as the basis of relationship between people( stage 3) and 4
widely accepted moral standards, set forth in rules and laws (stage 4).
The influence of situational factors on moral reasoning indicates that like Piaget’s cognitive
stages, Kohlberg’s moral stages are loosely organized. Rather than developing in a neat, stepwise
fashion, people draw on a range of moral responses that varay with context. With age this range
shifts upward as less mature moral reasoning is gradually replaced by more advanced moral
thought (Fischer & Bidell, 1998) .
COPY RIGHT © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 1933