This article critically evaluates key assumptions within classical and contemporary ‘decline’ moral sociology. It argues that two dominant models of moral loss sociology – the ‘cultural pessimist’ and ‘communitarians’ – are indebted to a set of Durkheimian assumptions that underwrite his original diagnosis of the moral crisis of modernity. Three specific assumptions are identified and critiqued: view of human nature and self; ‘society’ as the necessary source of morality; and the functions of morality. The article suggests that these assumptions work to ignore how self, emotions and cultural ideals of self-improvement may work as alternate moral structures in late modernity.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	authenticity, decline sociology, Durkheim, emotions, ethics, morality
Research Division:	Human Society
Research Group:	Sociology
Research Field:	Social theory
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in human society
UTAS Author:	Hookway, N (Dr Nicholas Hookway)
ID Code:	87099
Year Published:	2015 (online first 2014)
Web of Science® Times Cited:	14
Deposited By:	School of Social Sciences
Deposited On:	2013-12-10
Last Modified:	2016-10-13
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