The Ethics of Social Roles

The various social roles we occupy, such as teacher, parent, or friend, shape our ethical lives and colour our perceptions of each other and ourselves. Social roles have long been a central topic in sociology, and specific social roles frequently feature within applied moral philosophy and professional ethics. In striking contrast, the normative significance of social roles per se--the 'ethics of social roles' as a distinct field of philosophical enquiry--has been relatively neglected. Indeed, the view that social roles have genuine ethical bite is often tacitly dismissed as socially regressive, as if the pull of a social role must always be towards 'knowing one's place'. The present collection aims to change this by putting social roles back where they belong: at the centre of normative ethics.
After an editors' introduction aimed at readers new to the topic, fourteen original chapters by an international line-up of new and established authors show how the topic of social roles is a kind of missing link between several better-established topics, including collective agency, special obligations, wellbeing, and social and political justice. These contributions are organized into four parts. The first looks at the topic through a historical lens, since philosophers have not always neglected social roles. The second addresses the source of the apparent normative force of social roles. The third examines the relation of a social role's normativity to its wider institutional context. The fourth looks at implications for self and wellbeing.

Sean Cordell received his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Sheffield, and has since held posts at Sheffield, the University of Birmingham, and the Open University where he is currently Staff Tutor and Senior Lecturer. His research has developed from an in initial interest in neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics to include the nature of social institutions, their virtues and vices, and the roles they determine for individual agents.
Alex Barber received his doctorate from McGill University, Canada and currently Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University, UK. He has cross disciplinary research interests, and within philosophy works mainly on ethical and political philosophy, especially on topics where his expertise in the philosophy of language and linguistics can be brought to bear.

- 1: Alex Barber and Sean Cordell: An Overview of Social Roles and their Ethics - PART ONE: HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS - 2: Sophie Grace Chappell: Tempted Like Achilles: Reflections on Roles and Role-Recalcitrance in Ancient and Modern Ethics - 3: Jing Iris Hu: Roles and Virtues: Which is More Important for Confucian Women? - 4: John Simons: John Dewey s Analysis of Moral Agency as Pragmatist Role Ethics - 5: Robert Stern: A Good Doctor but a Bad Person? A Puzzle for Role Ethics from Løgstrup - PART TWO: THE NATURE AND NORMATIVITY OF ROLES - 6: Erin Taylor: All Together Now: When Is a Role Obligation Morally Binding? - 7: Tracy Isaacs: The Part We Play: Social Group Membership as a Role - 8: Reid Blackman: Explaining Role-Based Reasons - PART THREE: ROLES, INSTITUTIONS, AND ORGANIZATIONS - 9: Sean Cordell: Role Ethics and the Functions of Institutions - 10: Stephanie Collins: Role Obligations to Alter Role Obligations - 11: Diane Jeske: Are the Obligations of Friendship Role Obligations? - 12: Thomas H. Smith: My Job and its Requirements - PART FOUR: WELLBEING, SELFHOOD, AND ROLES - 13: Samuel Clark: Three Relations between Roles and the Good - 14: Alex Barber: Participatory Wellbeing and Roles - 15: Luke Brunning: Virtuous Chameleons: Social Roles, Integrity, and the Value of Compartmentalisation