Beyond ethics: towards a sociology of contemporary ethical practices
We face a veritable explosion of ethical discourses: the diverse professional ethics, business ethics, bioethics, ethical consumption, ethical regulation, ethical investment, individual ethics, ethical savings, ethical tourism, etc. Paradoxically, contemporary sociology barely has the conceptual tools necessary to decipher the why and how of the rapid expansion of these discourses. In this article, I sketch out an analysis of the trajectory of ethics and morality as objects of sociological analysis. Following this, I deploy a neo-classical perspective in order to propose a provisional outline that attempts to recover the insights of classical sociology in an effort to develop a conception of ethics suitable for sociological analysis.