TY  - CHAP
AB  - Purpose – Due to an absence of dialogue between sociology and the neurosciences, the scientific study of morality largely ignores cultural and structural influences. This chapter offers a synthetic approach integrating these separate disciplines to aid a more complete understanding of morality.Design/methodology/approach – This chapter reviews morality's bonding (a sense of groupness and belonging) and bounding (reproducing and reinforcing group boundaries) qualities across disciplines, and proposes three provisional principles to systematize an interdisciplinary model of morality. We then offer a preliminary illustration of how this model might be operationalized with functional MRI data.Findings – Our proposed principles (as exemplified by our illustrative example) suggest that the sociology-neurology gap in understanding the domain of morality might shrink through an engagement with the underlying neural mechanisms that encompass issues of empathy, racial attitudes, and identity as potential platforms opening up a more “social” neuroscience.Research limitations/implications – This chapter provides a starting-point for further research incorporating biological mechanisms into sociological theories in the area of morality. The illustrative case study should be replicated in a larger sample and/or in additional studies with different social groups.Practical implications – This chapter is a useful source of information for sociologists seeking to find out more about the intersection of neuroscience and sociology as well as the neural dynamics of morality.Originality/value – This chapter presents an introduction to an integrative approach recognizing our biological capacities for a socially constructed morality and the interaction between society and the mind. It includes one of the first sociologically oriented fMRI studies, offering avenues for new ways to bridge research disciplines.
VL  - 29
SN  - 978-1-78190-257-8, 978-1-78190-256-1/0882-6145
DO  - 10.1108/S0882-6145(2012)0000029009
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S0882-6145(2012)0000029009
AU  - Firat Rengin
AU  - Hitlin Steven
ED  - Will Kalkhoff
ED  - Shane R. Thye
ED  - Edward J. Lawler
PY  - 2012
Y1  - 2012/01/01
TI  - Morally Bonded and Bounded: A Sociological Introduction to Neurology
T2  - Biosociology and Neurosociology
T3  - Advances in Group Processes
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 165
EP  - 199
Y2  - 2024/04/19
ER  -