Social Ethics

Ethics is the application of normative standards to assess right action. Social ethics focuses on the ethical reflection as it pertains to social structures and communities of persons such as our government, school systems, and church organizations and refers to a set of standards around which we organize our lives and from which we define our duties and obligations. It results in a set of norms that establishes acceptable behavior patterns and is concerned with what people ought to do. Examples of social ethical dilemmas that occur in the business environment are privacy rights; sexual harassment; gender, age, and race discrimination; child labor; and environmental protection.