Moral Discourses and Judgments across 36 Countries: A Comparative Analysis Using European Values Study

This paper examines how moral discourses influence moral judgments across 36 European countries, utilizing Richard Shweder et al.’s (1997) theory of three types of morality—justice-based, duty-based, and religion-based morality. Building on the data from the Morally Debatable Behaviors Scale (MDBS) in the European Values Study (EVS) and constructed country profiles, this study groups countries based on their legal codes and social policies concerning homosexuality, prostitution, abortion, suicide, euthanasia, and divorce. The paper explores how these issues are understood differently across countries, reflecting on whether they are viewed as acceptable behaviors, crimes, deviant acts, or sins, depending on the dominant cultural moral framework. To do so, it investigates how religion, media, and the state shape public discourses on morally debatable issues, using qualitative comparative approach (QCA) and critical discourse analysis (CDA). Preliminary findings suggest that moral discourses are culturally shaped, with different ethical principles guiding judgments of moral but illegal or legal but immoral behaviors. This paper demonstrates how diverse methods—combining survey data with discourse and text analysis—can be used to compare moral values and their discursive framing across countries and visualize value differences across Europe.