Work

Moral rackets

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Protection rackets are used by criminal organizations to secure power, wherein “protection” is offered to individuals for threats coming from the criminal organization itself. In this paper, I put forth the concept of a moral racket as a type of structural racket wherein social dominants exploit moral reputation to perpetuate systems of domination. A moral racket occurs when individuals forcefully position themselves as moral saints for moral issues that either do not exist, or do, but were created by the wrongful actions of these individuals themselves. Considering three real-world cases of moral rackets of white saviorism within non-profits, elite philanthropy, and anti-LGBTQ legislation, I show how they are particularly pernicious instruments of oppression. Moral rackets do this by performing several key ideological functions, including creating a perception of legitimacy of systems of domination, undermining moral knowledge, thwarting attention from true sources of social problems, and blocking off avenues of resistance.

Source: The Philosophical Quarterly

DOI: 10.1093/pq/pqaf035

Author: Nicole Dular

Institution: Notre Dame of Maryland University

Language: English

Topic: Philosophical Ethics and Theory

Subfield: Philosophy

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,204