The Roots of Goodness and Resistance to Evil
Author | : Ervin Staub |
Publisher | : Oxford University Press, USA |
Total Pages | : 408 |
Release | : 2015 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780195382037 |
ISBN-13 | : 019538203X |
Rating | : 4/5 (37 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: He explores the range of experiences that lead to active bystandership, including socialization by parents, teachers (and peers) in childhood, education, experiential learning, and public education through media. He examines what personal characteristics or dispositions result from such experiences, which in turn lead to caring and helping. Staub also considers how circumstances influence people--both individuals and whole groups--and how they join with personal dispositions to determine whether people remain passive in the face of others' need or instead help others and behave in morally courageous or even heroic ways. He considers how moral and caring values can be subverted by circumstances, and outlines ways to resist that possiblity.