[Commlist] CFP: Workshop Moralizing in Public Debates

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CFP: Workshop 'Moralizing in Public Debates’ as a part of the ECPR Joint 
Sessions of Workshop, April 19-22, 2022. Online.

Submission deadline: February 2, 2022. Midnight UK time

Submission platform: https://ecpr.eu/JointSessions

Although public moral discourse has always been present in the European 
tradition, in recent years fight between good and evil become the centre 
point of the political dispute. Political messages nowadays are less 
explicit about conflicting interests, rather they focus on the moral 
implications of political actions. Much of contemporary political 
rhetoric is about purification and claims for moral leadership. 
Moralizing is one of the key components of the political interactions 
both at the local, national, and international levels, but can take 
different forms depending on the contexts in which it occurs. Even 
though the literature on morality in politics is rich with publications 
describing the philosophical and psychological foundations, its 
communicative features need refreshed academic attention. This workshop 
contributes to the academic discussion on moralization in political 
communication, in particular, on its relevance for the increasingly 
conflictual politics in Europe. Dworkin distinguishes between ethics and 
morality by arguing that ethics includes common convictions about which 
kinds of lives are good or bad for people, while morality includes 
principles about how the ruling elite should treat citizens. Further, 
moralization means “the acquisition of moral qualities by objects and 
activities that were previously morally neutral”. The objects and 
activities do not have intrinsic moral qualities but are determined by 
the character of the arguments used in the debate. Moralization always 
has collective and communicative aspects: the shared ethical foundations 
are the robust predictor of political behaviour. The morality-based 
value judgments are not compatible with public deliberation as being 
often intolerant to disagreements. A high level of moralization leads to 
a conflict of absolutes, increasing hostility, stigmatization, and 
decreasing chances of political compromises. This is also one of the key 
features of populism. However, morality is inevitable in democracies and 
useful for mobilization. Moralizing messages simplify the complexities 
of the political domain and encourage the citizens to view the 
legislative election as a moral decision. If politicians can convince 
that, they are the moral choice and the other candidate is the immoral 
choice, then they can increase the participation that stems from moral 
conviction. Moralization is promoted by exchanges of ideas about social 
values and norms, still, we need a more nuanced understanding of why and 
how political actors and ordinary citizens communicate about politics in 
a moral light. The workshop is also inspired by the study of the 
affective side of moralizing rhetoric. Researches support the claim that 
a diverse packet of emotions such as anger, contempt, disgust, guilt, 
shame, and pride play an essential role in moral cognition. The 
expressions of moral emotions undoubtedly matter, yet it is rather an 
undiscovered field in political communication studies. The workshop’s 
goal is to fill this gap, building on the premise that morally justified 
manner of speaking and the rise of antagonistic interactions in politics 
are very much interconnected.

Convenors:

Gabriella Szabó is a senior research fellow at Centre for Social 
Sciences (Budapest, Hungary). Her research interests lie in the area of 
political communication and expressivity.  <(szabo.gabriella /at/ tk.hu)>

Artur Lipiński is a professor at the Faculty of Political Science and 
Journalism at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland). His 
interest lie in populism and political communication.


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