Moralsk mangfold, oppvekst og livstolkning – et evolusjonspsykologisk perspektiv

Abstract

In this article, I discuss the challenges of moral diversity in Norwegian public school from the perspective of Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations theory. I take my cue from Haidt’s distinction between individualistic and sociocentric societies and discuss some implications of this distinction with regard to the introduction of the new curriculum (fagfornyelsen, in Norwegian). I argue that the subject curriculum is rooted in a morality that is characteristic of what Haidt refers to as WEIRD societies (i.e. Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rational, Democracies). My thesis is that this moral matrix rests on cultural assumptions that differ substantially from those of immigrant pupils in Norwegian schools. The particularities of sociocentric moral matrices seem to fall in the blind zone of the subject curriculum. Yet it is important that the school system acknowledge its role in the creation of a community to which every pupil might experience an allegiance. In order to create a shared value foundation, teachers need to be aware of pupils’ affiliations to different moral matrices. Thus, we need to rethink what moral socialization means in a multicultural society.