#8 Sally Haslanger: How social contexts shape our moral norms

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Sally Haslanger, Ford Professor of Philosophy and Women’s and Gender Studies at MIT, about what norms are, how we can know when they need to be changed, and how we should change them.

(00:00) Our introduction
(5:12) Interview begins
(16:07) What grounds social norms
(18:56) How we can know a moral norm is problematic
(23:11) How social and moral norms relate
(29:49) What is social critique?
(35:54) Social critique without situated knowledge of a social practice
(50:06) Are structural solutions always better?
(52:21) The role of philanthropy and expertise
(1:05:18) What makes some norms coercive
(1:07:47) How to change the social world
(1:12:46) Who’s responsible for disrupting social norms?
(1:15:18) Should bioethicists be activists?

Relevant readings:

• Elizabeth Anderson, “Beyond Homo Economicus: New Developments in Theories of Social Norms”
• Sally Haslanger, “Political Epistemology and Social Critique”
• Sally Haslanger, “Methods of Social Critique”
• Sally Haslanger and Clare Chambers, “Ideology and Critique”
• Wolfgang Streeck and Kathleen Thelen, Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies

Bio(un)ethical is a bioethics podcast written and edited by Leah Pierson and Sophie Gibert, with production support by Audiolift.co. Our music is written by Nina Khoury and performed by Social Skills. We are supported by a grant from Amplify Creative Grants.