What Is Moral Entrepreneurs & What They Do? – Complete Guide

Moral Entrepreneurship is a term related to Sociology. They are committed to the enactment and administration of regulations against specific behaviors. The group defines such behaviors as ‘Atypical.’ As a result, they are the active and visible members of social governance. 

Moral entrepreneurs build deviance and categorize the rule violators as social “outsiders.” However, they do this by developing regulations that they claim to reflect the correct morality.

Studies uphold that they seem to follow more ethics as well as values than business managers. To be very precise, such entrepreneurs play considerable roles in addressing a myriad of social issues. 

The present guide study analyzes the concept of mortal entrepreneurship by incorporating several ideas, fundamentals, and notions. Read the below section carefully to gate a sound understanding of the term. 

Who Are Moral Entrepreneurs?

In its true sense, moral entrepreneurs are a group, individual persons, or a formal business entity. They try to persuade a group to accept or sustain a standard by bending the rules of obligation, compassion, deviance, and altruism. 

Basically, they take the initiative of tagging a particular activity or behavior. Furthermore, they popularize the tag throughout society mostly on a negative note. Additionally, the responsibilities of a moral entrepreneur are to remove the negative labels, spread positive labeling, and eliminate positive labels.

For a range of motives, altruistic or selfish, the moral entrepreneur may advocate for developing or introducing a standard. But surprisingly, such groups are authorized to give rise to a moral panic.

Do you want to know some prominent examples of moral entrepreneurs for better clarification? Well, here are some moral entrepreneurs examples, but you must have come across some of them earlier unknowingly. 

• Mothers Against Truck Driving (MADD)
• The Gun Control Lobby
• The Anti-Tobacco Lobby
• Black Lives Matter 
• Anti-pornography Groups
• Pro-choice and Pro-life movements. Both of these two are working against each other on a common problem. 
• Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Social Movements 

Are Moral Entrepreneurs Rule Enforcer Or Rule Creator

The term moral entrepreneur originated in 1963. The famous sociologist Howard S. Becker coined it  in “Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance.” His main motive was to investigate the interrelationship between morality and law.  

From Becker’s viewpoint, moral entrepreneurs do not fall under a single category; they are members of two broad categories. The first one is Rule Creator, whereas the second one is Rule Enforcer. 

Those who are rule-makers agree that various forms of severe societal evil should root out from society. Becker explained this version of the rule creator as ‘Crusading Reformer.’ Frequently, political rivalry comes when these moral entrepreneurs start campaigns to reform society based on their beliefs, values, and morals. 

Studies and theories state that people from the upper societal strata dominate the successful moral crusades; they include law-making agencies, stakeholders in a sector, and religious groups. Moral crusaders have public support, authority and they generate public awareness regarding a central issue. Moreover, they present acceptable and concise solutions to each problem.  

After a certain time, they rely on social professionals who help validate a moral belief. These social experts are termed as rule enforcers, for example, Policemen. They are under the compulsion of two roles. In addition to their own responsibilities, they are concerned about winning respect.  

Therefore, it is evident that rule enforcers just enforce the rule as it belongs to their job role. Nevertheless, they do not have any questions about the statute in detail. Once the rule changes, some previously accepted thing might be a punishable offense now. However, the rule enforcers need to stay updated in terms of each enacted regulatory policy. 

Role In Lawmaking

Moral entrepreneurs occupy a pivotal position in formulating a legal framework in a province or a country, such as developing laws for alcohol intake. Their responsibility here is to allocate rule enforcers specific roles for preventing alcohol consumption. 

There are several alcohol-related regulations in place for the last one to centuries. The single aim of these multiple laws is to eliminate health issues from the public along with social problems. Some instances of such rules are:

• National Minimum Drinking Age Act, 1984
• Penal bond of $1000
• No alcohol while Driving 

Social Issues

Moral Entrepreneurs contribute essentially to moral panic and moral emergence. It is owing to their creation of chaos with vernaculars that dramatize, name, and interpret them. Did you know that these people or groups use an oratorical tool called Typifying while identifying and defining social problems?

As a result, moral entrepreneurs frequently participate in typification by arguing that particular actions or groups are morally hazardous. They use typification and the development of a horrifying class to bring a specific group’s activities to public consciousness. Furthermore, the procedure completes through the identification of such behaviors as social issues.

In this context, claims makers contribute to a particular issue in society. They define the nature of a social issue, and while doing so, they imply that problem is viewable from a particular standpoint. 

Claims makers are of much importance in the cases of child abuse, gang rape, and drunk driving.  They shape the vocabulary and explain what is actually deviant and what is a problem in society. 

Moral entrepreneurship and claims-making usher impacts on social movements in addition to the advancement of their interests. Therefore, they popularize meanings for terminology concerning the issue, including ‘drunk,’ abuse,’ and ‘rape.’

The Bottom Line 

Moral Entrepreneurs are visible in every form of society. Now that you know who they actually are and what they do, you can quickly identify them. They form a crucial segment of society through their activities, actions, and initiatives. Needless to say, the governance of a country or a state depends on them to a considerable extent. 

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