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Moral Time
Conflict is ubiquitous and inevitable, but people generally dislike it and try to prevent or avoid it as much as possible. So why do clashes of right and wrong occur? And why are some more serious than others? In Moral Time, sociologist Donald Black presents a new theory of conflict that provides answers to these and many other questions. The heart of the theory is a completely new concept of social time. Black claims that the root cause of conflict is the movement of social time, including relational, vertical, and cultural time--changes in intimacy, inequality, and diversity. The theory of moral time reveals the causes of conflict in all human relationships, from marital and other close relationships to those between strangers, ethnic groups, and entire societies. Moreover, the theory explains the origins and clash of right and wrong not only in modern societies but across the world and across history, from conflict concerning sexual behavior such as rape, adultery, and homosexuality, to bad manners and dislike in everyday life, theft and other crime, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, witchcraft accusations, warfare, heresy, obscenity, creativity, and insanity. Black concludes by explaining the evolution of conflict and morality across human history, from the tribal to the modern age. He also provides surprising insights into the postmodern emergence of the right to happiness and the expanding rights of humans and non-humans across the world. Moral Time offers an incisive, powerful, and radically new understanding of human conflict--a fundamental and inescapable feature of social life.
- GenresSociologyPhilosophy
303 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 17, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 22, 2018
Basic Black
Professor Black, who is known for a school of thought he calls "pure sociology", proposes that aberrant behaviour occurs due to stress caused by change across 3 dimensions: intimacy, hierarchical relations (stratification) and diversity, either too much or too little of each. The last category is refined further into traditional/non-traditional, race/homogeneity, and innovation (in art, science, culture) vs sameness. In each section of this relatively short book (152 pages with an additional 160 pages of references) he introduces his terms and then gives extensive and interesting examples or how changes in status create conflict between different members of a society.
The examples come from a large variety of human cultures and the book is impressive on this basis alone - there's behaviour considered normal in any one culture that would offend in many others. However, as to the theory itself I remain unconvinced and though the number of examples is overwhelming he has not entirely made his case because he fails to consider counterexamples. For example, Black states that each of his dimensions are zero sum experiences - that if one increases intimacy with one person one reduces intimacy with another, that if one person rises (or falls) in a hierarchy that others are lowered. However if two individuals who are not in love with anyone fall in love there is a net increase in intimacy. Black argues that having children reduces intimacy between partners, which sounds like sour grapes, but (in my experience) it changes the nature of that intimacy and ultimately increases one's capacity to love. The same can be true of wealth - if one creates a new product or method, or creates a piece of art, then that may enrich the originator but there is also the possibility of enriching countless others. Whereas Prof. Black tries to give his theory the aura of hard science by using the analogy of a temporal dimension and a conservation law, IMV the zero-sum hypothesis aspect fails because he is unable to assign a numeric scale to the degree of difference or the rate of change. If one can't measure then one cannot declare a balance of zero.
However the notion that changes in social distance is more likely to cause conflict than actual distance is very attractive though he might have taken this further by looking into the rate of change as a factor. Great examples, though some are just interesting and don't relate to the theory. in many cultures (the middle Ages in Europe, the American South vis a vis blacks, the Qing Dynasty in China, the Zapotec Indians of Mexico to name a few) there were written and unwritten codes the made it a crime to act "uppity", either in the presence of one's social "betters" or, as in the case of and egalitarian group such union workers, being too enthusiastic or productive. Inuit, Botswana Bushmen and the Buid of Malaysia are all highly egalitarian, disapproving of those with greater success in a hunt. In Andalusia Spain being a peeping tom is considered a crime of over familiarity - men apparently will do it in groups for protection, but males close to the victim will liken it to rape and feel justified in reacting violently. Pueblo Indians would execute those who would reveal their ritual secrets - overexposure - but consider the US government imprisons and has executed spies for similar reasons.
Because of the focus on negative rather than positive conflict an outsider might despair at the human condition. However what I find more plausible is that Black's theories may serve as framework for exceptional cases of overreaction. At the very end Black advocates for a global morality as a higher plane of existence. It's an attractive article of faith, but not well enough argued.
I'm undecided as yet on the long term value of his sociology but the writing is interesting enough to give it further consideration. The fascinating anthropology brings my rating up to 4*.
Professor Black, who is known for a school of thought he calls "pure sociology", proposes that aberrant behaviour occurs due to stress caused by change across 3 dimensions: intimacy, hierarchical relations (stratification) and diversity, either too much or too little of each. The last category is refined further into traditional/non-traditional, race/homogeneity, and innovation (in art, science, culture) vs sameness. In each section of this relatively short book (152 pages with an additional 160 pages of references) he introduces his terms and then gives extensive and interesting examples or how changes in status create conflict between different members of a society.
The examples come from a large variety of human cultures and the book is impressive on this basis alone - there's behaviour considered normal in any one culture that would offend in many others. However, as to the theory itself I remain unconvinced and though the number of examples is overwhelming he has not entirely made his case because he fails to consider counterexamples. For example, Black states that each of his dimensions are zero sum experiences - that if one increases intimacy with one person one reduces intimacy with another, that if one person rises (or falls) in a hierarchy that others are lowered. However if two individuals who are not in love with anyone fall in love there is a net increase in intimacy. Black argues that having children reduces intimacy between partners, which sounds like sour grapes, but (in my experience) it changes the nature of that intimacy and ultimately increases one's capacity to love. The same can be true of wealth - if one creates a new product or method, or creates a piece of art, then that may enrich the originator but there is also the possibility of enriching countless others. Whereas Prof. Black tries to give his theory the aura of hard science by using the analogy of a temporal dimension and a conservation law, IMV the zero-sum hypothesis aspect fails because he is unable to assign a numeric scale to the degree of difference or the rate of change. If one can't measure then one cannot declare a balance of zero.
However the notion that changes in social distance is more likely to cause conflict than actual distance is very attractive though he might have taken this further by looking into the rate of change as a factor. Great examples, though some are just interesting and don't relate to the theory. in many cultures (the middle Ages in Europe, the American South vis a vis blacks, the Qing Dynasty in China, the Zapotec Indians of Mexico to name a few) there were written and unwritten codes the made it a crime to act "uppity", either in the presence of one's social "betters" or, as in the case of and egalitarian group such union workers, being too enthusiastic or productive. Inuit, Botswana Bushmen and the Buid of Malaysia are all highly egalitarian, disapproving of those with greater success in a hunt. In Andalusia Spain being a peeping tom is considered a crime of over familiarity - men apparently will do it in groups for protection, but males close to the victim will liken it to rape and feel justified in reacting violently. Pueblo Indians would execute those who would reveal their ritual secrets - overexposure - but consider the US government imprisons and has executed spies for similar reasons.
Because of the focus on negative rather than positive conflict an outsider might despair at the human condition. However what I find more plausible is that Black's theories may serve as framework for exceptional cases of overreaction. At the very end Black advocates for a global morality as a higher plane of existence. It's an attractive article of faith, but not well enough argued.
I'm undecided as yet on the long term value of his sociology but the writing is interesting enough to give it further consideration. The fascinating anthropology brings my rating up to 4*.
April 5, 2018
Read this book for my SOCI 4800 - Sociology of Morality - class and it's honestly a very captivating and thought-provoking book. It poses forth an interesting theory that explains the origins of conflict in everyday life and also mentions what can be done to prevent that conflict to a certain degree. Did not think I would enjoy this book as much as I did. Does not read like a textbook at all!
Read
March 31, 2022A book club (text)book. 2.5⭐️
January 28, 2025
Read for my criminology class, was a very clearly laid out book
June 22, 2026
Moral Time is a nice read. Easy to comprehend with many illustrative examples from cultures around the world. However, I unfortunately disagree with a lot of Black's claims and find some of them poorly substantiated. In many instances, he fails to consider counterexamples and speaks of zero-sum instances that are actually not zero-sum at all.
Furthermore, the support for his claims is rather weak. Perhaps this bothers me because I am trained in Psychology, but I am used to hearing theories about mechanisms, how people behave and feel, followed by evidence in the form of randomised controlled trials, panel data, and surveys with representative samples. Here, we find statements such as “according to one American police officer [...]” (p.48). I think this book would have benefited from having a more empirical approach.
Perhaps it never had the aspiration to be empirical, but rather thought-provoking, which it definitely is. For me, it is somewhere between three and four stars.
Furthermore, the support for his claims is rather weak. Perhaps this bothers me because I am trained in Psychology, but I am used to hearing theories about mechanisms, how people behave and feel, followed by evidence in the form of randomised controlled trials, panel data, and surveys with representative samples. Here, we find statements such as “according to one American police officer [...]” (p.48). I think this book would have benefited from having a more empirical approach.
Perhaps it never had the aspiration to be empirical, but rather thought-provoking, which it definitely is. For me, it is somewhere between three and four stars.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews