Activity – Exploring Your Moral Posture
When we are faced with someone who is very different from us we may adopt a particular moral posture towards them. We may become: Prosecutor, Adjudicator or Advocate. Moral postures have both a light and a dark side to them.
LIGHT
Prosecutor
Press hard for justice, do not waver
Correct any misuse of law
Enforce
Collect comprehensive data
Adjudicator
Conciliate
Try to see all sides of a situation
Deeply understand moral justice
Commit to order
Reserve judgement until all evidence is fairly presented
Mediate; reflect; admit mercy
Advocate
Defend the right to be heard
Preserve notions of fairness
Combat rules and practices that unnecessarily harm lives
Generate hope
Do all possible to see the underdog gets a fair hearing
Redeem
GREY
Prosecutor
Win at any cost
Be zealous
Detract (demonise defame, impute, disparage, inveigh, express clear partisan bias)
Introduce personal agenda
Adjudicator
Prejudge; be partial
Impose a habitual solution in place of correctness and fairness
Prefer familiar courses of action
Advocate
Ideologise
Trump law with empathy
Glorify the disadvantaged
DARK
Prosecutor
Manipulate truth
Act impetuously
Make no concessions; punish to the limit. Criminalise
Act by subterfuge
Harass and discriminate
Self-aggrandise
Incite with extreme language to attacks on the outsider
Adjudicator
Act with rigid impartiality
Allow oneself to be crippled by process
Falsely exonerate
Act with bias
Advocate
Show one-sidedness
Use emotion and meaning to outwit those in power
Justify
Vilify opponents
Adapted from Dr David Kantor: Reading the Room
Exercise
Opportunity for Personal Reflection
Think of a time when you have come across someone who provoked an instant reaction in you.
- What was that reaction?
- Which moral posture did you adopt?
- How did that affect the other person?
- Can you identify the Moral Posture you adopt most often?
Survey
We thought it might be interesting to get a feel for the profile of learners undertaking this course, by conducting a series of polls across the classes. All votes are anonymous, the aim is to build an understanding of the behaviours, preferences and characteristics of those in governance positions across Scotland’s public services.
SUGGESTION: If you are progressing through the course with colleagues, you can download this activity as a PDF document enabling you to share your thoughts and findings with others offline and assess your overall profile as a group. To download the activity as a PDF, simply click on the button at the top of the page.