Moral Socialization

No matter where we grow up, during childhood we all develop an intuitive cultural understanding of fairness and justice, good and evil, and of our rights, duties, and obligations to others. But through what everyday activities do we actually acquire this understanding? And how might this happen in a society that is experiencing drastic changes in the social fabric that holds their communities together? In my research among the Aché I investigate how children are socialized into different moral norms and expectations in the two environments in which they grow up, forest and village, as these are tied to past and present ways of life and can therefore give insights into ongoing sociocultural change.