Urban-Rural Differences in Moral Foundations: A Meta Analytic Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21615/cesp.7557Keywords:
moral foundations, moral development, rural environments, urban environments, ideology, meta-analysisAbstract
The social division between the rural environment and the urban environment not only implies differences in living conditions but is also expressed in the different values and attitudes that predominate in one or another context. In this article, the rural-urban divide is addressed from the framework of Moral foundations Theory (MFT). Specifically, a meta-analytical study analyzes the differences in moral foundations between rural and urban areas. A selection among 6093 published and unpublished articles between 2007 and 2020 resulted in a sample of 13 studies (k = 36; N = 200,099). Contrary to expectations based on the MFT itself, results showed significant but negligible differences in the levels of Fairness/cheating ( = -.074). Since significant heterogeneity was found for the five foundations, analyses for possible moderators were carried out, and the scale utilized to measure moral foundations emerged as the most important moderator. As a result, higher moral levels in rural areas for Authority/subversion ( = -.127) and Purity/degradation ( = -.177) emerged when only studies which utilized any version of the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ), were considered. Limitations regarding the use of non-MFQ-based scales or items, and some possible challenges regarding the generalizability of the MFT, are discussed.
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