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Schema via Structure? Personal Network Density and the Moral Evaluation of Infidelity
Author(s) -
Schafer Markus H.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
sociological forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1573-7861
pISSN - 0884-8971
DOI - 10.1111/socf.12072
Subject(s) - deviance (statistics) , social psychology , schema (genetic algorithms) , sociology , moral behavior , social cognitive theory of morality , psychology , social network (sociolinguistics) , moral disengagement , law , computer science , machine learning , political science , social media
This article considers whether the density of a person's social network is related to his/her moral attitudes toward infidelity. Integrating recent sociological thinking on moral schemas with network theory's insights about deviance and structural independence, I employ data from a representative sample of American men aged 57–85. Findings indicate that men with the densest personal networks are least likely to condone infidelity. This association, moreover, was independent of men's education, their beliefs about religion and sex, and attitudes about their partners, among other factors. The findings imply an affinity between micro‐social structure and moral judgment, suggesting that network density can help constrain even the expression of moral attitudes.