Moralism is a philosophy that arose in the 19th century that concerns itself with imbuing society with a certain set of morals, usually traditional behaviour, but also "justice, freedom, and equality".[1] It has strongly affected North American and British culture, concerning private issues such as the family unit and sexuality, as well as issues that carry over into the public square, such as the temperance movement.[2]
The term has been used in a pejorative sense to describe the attitude of "being overly concerned with making moral judgments or being illiberal in the judgments one makes".[3]
InFrench literature, the moralists (French: moralistes) were a tradition of secular writers who described "personal, social and political conduct", typically through maxims. The tradition is associated with the salons of the Ancien Régime from the 16th through the 18th centuries. The tradition begins with the EssaisofMichel de Montaigne (1580), but its heyday was the late 17th century.[4]
Although the moralists wrote essays and pen-portraits, their preferred genre was the maxim. These were short abstract statements devoid of context, often containing paradoxes and always designed to shock or surprise. The moralists aimed for objective and impartial observation freed from the preconceptions of their day. Their approach was never systematic.[4] The four principal moralists and their main works are:
In tracing the origins of moralism, sociologist Malcolm Waters writes that "Moralism emerged from a clash between the unrestrained character of frontier expansionism, a middle-class, Protestant emphasis on respectability cultivated in small-town America and an egalitarian and anti-intellectual evangelism among splinter Protestant groups."[5]
In the 19th century, the issues of abolition and temperance formed the "twin pillars" of moralism, becoming popular through Christian Churches in the United States, both Protestant and Roman Catholic.[6][7] Moralism as promoted by some Christian denominations, such as the Quakers, manifested in wide support for abolitionism.[8]
The rise of postmillennialism in the 19th century "encouraged a general culture of Protestant moralism and pushed it toward a series of social reform movements, from antislavery and abolitionism (freedom for the slaves now), to protests against Indian Removal, to antiwar and peace efforts, to women's rights, to temperance work before and after the Civil War."[9] As such, the campaign for women's suffrage, evidenced by the ethos of organisations such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), was highly driven by the moralism of that era.[10]
In the latter part of 20th century, as well as the 21st century, moralists in the United States turned their attention to championing the movement to criminalize abortion care.[2] Moralists have also focused their efforts in maintaining blue laws, such as those that discourage Sunday shopping, in accordance with first-day Sabbatarian beliefs and the sensibilities of some labourers and trade unions.[11]
^Robins, R. G. (2004). A. J. Tomlinson: Plainfolk Modernist. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780199883172.
^Ryan, James Emmett (2009). Imaginary Friends: Representing Quakers in American Culture, 1650-1950. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 51. ISBN9780299231743. Still operating at the margins of American religious discourse, Quaker civic moralism would see its legitimacy in the public sphere grow as increasing numbers of American citizens grew sympathetic with the Unionist and abolitionist causes.
^Brekus, Catherine A.; Gilpin, W. Clark (2011). American Christianities: A History of Dominance and Diversity. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 50. ISBN9780807869147.
^Delany, Sheila (2007). Writing Woman: Sex, Class and Literature, Medieval and Modern. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 11. ISBN9781556354434.
^Steinfels, Peter (2013). The Neoconservatives: The Origins of a Movement: With a New Foreword, From Dissent to Political Power. Simon and Schuster. p. 37. ISBN9781476729701.
