Virtual signaling

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Virtue signaling ( AmE virtue signaling; German literally virtue signaling ) is a derogatory English term for the Zurschaustellen moral values. This often refers to views that demonstrate the moral correctness of one's own position on a particular topic and at the same time are viewed as particularly capable of consent. This also includes the offensive rejection of views that are assessed as incapable of consent.

Origin and use

The buzzword virtue signaling has been used in English-speaking countries since the early 2000s and was popularized in 2015 by British journalist James Bartholomew in an article in the conservative magazine The Spectator . The expression sounds like a social science term , but it is actually a common part of everyday language in journalistic comments as well as expressions of opinion on social media and in political discussions . Virtue signaling is sometimes used with a similar meaning to political correctness . Because of its spread in social media and its often disparaging use, the term is described as a typical example of new names in the 21st century . A common German translation does not yet exist (as of February 2020). Among other things, the versions of bragging rights and bragging rights were used or the facts were circumscribed.

As examples of virtue signaling the change of were Facebook -Profilbildes to show its support for a particular cause, participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge , publicly expressed "thoughts and prayers" (thoughts and prayers) for victims of disasters or Expressing beliefs called through hashtags on social media . According to the critics, who claim a virtue signaling , the senders want to use these gestures to express their supposed virtue and moral superiority in order to gain recognition without really having corresponding convictions or, in practice, acting accordingly.

Virtue signaling became the term used by American conservatives against liberals and leftists, for example on the right-wing news website Breitbart . The Danish author Bjørn Lomborg used the catchphrase for vegetarians .

Criticism of the use of the term

In 2016 David Shariatmadari criticized the use of the catchphrase virtue signaling in the British Guardian . This is a "reduction" that has "exceeded its shelf life". It is a “pretty, concise phrase”, with a “social science touch”, with which one can make an opponent of the discussion look superficial while giving the impression of being privy to a demanding discourse. The accusation of virtue signaling would, however, pour out the child with the bath water: Just because someone represents an opinion that is respected in certain circles, one should not conclude that he is doing this out of vanity. The neoliberal economist Sam Bowman of the Adam Smith Institute also rejected the use of the expression virtue signaling . It is a popular but "stupid term that misuses the concepts it introduces, it promotes easy thinking and it is hypocritical."

Jane Coaston also commented on the term in the New York Times . The problem with virtue signaling is not signaling, because everyone signals all kinds of things at all times. The criticism of virtue signaling is therefore a criticism of virtue itself and people who bring virtue signaling up with others would want to signal something themselves, e.g. B. to deal pragmatically or cynically with painful facts. Neil Levy , professor of philosophy at Macquarie University, wrote in Tagesspiegel that the charge could be used to avoid having to address the moral issue, and: “The irony of this charge is that, conversely, you criticize the offensive The display of morality could, in turn, be seen as a case of offensive display of morality - just for a different audience. "

Investigations

In a study published in the Journal of Business Ethics , “conspicuous virtue signaling” (translated: “conspicuous virtue signaling”) was examined on Facebook . This was done using surveys of two test groups: One consisted of 234 volunteer Irish, mostly female students, the other of 300 paid US people from Amazon Mechanical Turk . There were relationships between unethical behavioral intentions and “conspicuous virtue signaling”.

The psychologists Jillian Jordan and David Rand investigated in several experiments, also with people (numbers: 8440, 6076 and 3422) from Amazon Mechanical Turk, the "moralistic punishment" while they were anonymous. The signaling effect of “moralistic punishment” was examined. In the course of the investigation you wrote in the New York Times under the heading “Are You 'Virtue Signaling'?” That this may be so, but that this does not mean a lack of authenticity . The distinction between real moral indignation and strategic “virtue signaling” presupposes separable psychological systems. New research would suggest that such a distinction is wrong.

According to the philosopher Neil Levy, “dishonest display” of virtue traits, for which there would be the term mimicry in the animal kingdom in evolutionary biology , should be condemned as hypocritical in humans, while the reference to real personal virtue serves social cohesion and as an “honest signal “Would be wrongly denounced. The term was also used in a 2018 psycholinguistic study referring to the signaling theory advocated in a publication by psychologist and evolutionary biologist Geoffrey Miller in 2007 . Virtual signaling is used to "obtain social, sexual, or status advantages".

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Definition of virtue signaling in the Oxford Dictionaries - English and Cambridge Dictionary , accessed February 18, 2020.
  2. ↑ Easy virtue. In: Spectator. Retrieved August 4, 2020 .
  3. ↑ 'Virtue signaling' - the putdown that has passed its sell-by date | David Shariatmadari. January 20, 2016, accessed August 4, 2020 .
  4. ^ Martin Moore: Word of the Month - Virtue signaling . In: Spread the Word - The Oxford Learner's Dictionaries blog . May 1, 2018, accessed February 18, 2020.
  5. ↑ Markus Schär: Not being virtuous, but seeming virtuous: Why "virtue signaling" doesn't necessarily help humanity, but is part of being human . In: NZZ .ch . February 5, 2020, accessed February 18, 2020.
  6. ↑ Jochen Buchsteiner: Europe in the refugee crisis: Merkel destabilizes Germany and Europe , FAZ November 1, 2015.
  7. ↑ Bernhard Löhri: practical constraints and German virtuosity . In: Die Presse, November 24, 2015.
  8. ↑ Martin Burckhardt : Selfie with Chancellor . In: Merkur - German Journal for European Thinking, Issue 3, March 2016, pp. 71–77, here p. 71, text preview of the publisher .
  9. ↑ Dominik Geppert : The European Union without Great Britain: How it came to Brexit and what follows from it , in: Jürgen Rüttgers , Frank Decker (Ed.): Europes Ende, Europes Beginn. New perspectives for the European Union , Frankfurt a. Main 2017, pp. 117–130, here p. 126, preview Google Books .
  10. Jump up ↑ Neil Levy: Virtuousness can be useful . In: Der Tagesspiegel , January 27, 2020. English original: Is virtue signaling a perversion of morality? In Aeon Ideas , November 29, 2019.
  11. ↑ Michael Bolzli: Business Psychologist: "Coca-Cola seems implausible" . In: Nau , January 28, 2020.
  12. ↑ a b Mark Peters: Virtue signaling and other inane platitudes. In: The Boston Globe . December 24, 2015.
  13. ^ A b c Neil Levy, translated by Anna Thewalt and Yannik Achternbosch: Philosophy professor explains the good thing about do -gooder . In: Der Tagesspiegel . February 2, 2020 ( archived version of February 27, 2020 ). English Original: Is virtue signaling a perversion of morality? In: Aeon Ideas . 29th November 2019.
  14. ^ David Shariatmadari: 'Virtue signaling' - the putdown that has passed its sell-by date. In: The Guardian . 20th January 2016.
  15. ↑ Sam Bowman: Stop saying 'virtue signaling'. In: Blog - Adam Smith Institute . May 27, 2016.
  16. ↑ 'Virtue Signaling' Isn't the problem. Not Believing One Another Is. In: nytimes.de . August 8, 2020, accessed February 12, 2020.
  17. ↑ Elaine Wallace, Isabel Buil, Leslie de Chernatony : 'Consuming Good' on Social Media: What Can Conspicuous Virtue Signaling on Facebook Tell Us About Prosocial and Unethical Intentions? In: Journal of Business Ethics . August 21, 2018, doi: 10.1007 / s10551-018-3999-7 ( aston.ac.uk ).
  18. ↑ Jillian J. Jordan, David G. Rand: Signaling when no one is watching: A reputation heuristics account of outrage and punishment in one-shot anonymous interactions. In: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology . Volume 118, No. 1, January 2020, doi: 10.1037 / pspi0000186 ( yale.edu ).
  19. ↑ Jillian Jordan, David Rand: Are You 'Virtue Signaling'? In: nytimes.de . March 30, 2019, accessed February 12, 2020.
  20. ↑ Amber R. Massey-Abernathy, Elizabeth Haseltine: Power Talk: Communication Styles, Vocalization Rates and Dominance . In: Journal of Psycholinguistic Research . Volume 48, February 2019, pp. 107–116, doi: 10.1007 / s10936-018-9592-5 (quoted from google.de ).