Social Identity and Moral Responsibility

I believe that although we do have a part in defining ourselves, I think that our society defines us more. In my opinion the same person can be born into different societies and have a different life because of their different upbringings. For example, I was born into an upper middle class family. Both my parents had a steady income and I grew up in a loving house. My family has influenced me greatly but lets say I was put up for adoption and sent to a foster family that wasn't as stable and loving. My bet is that I would turn out much differently. I could be an angry kid who has resentment that I wasn't loved as a child. It's the nature vs. nurture argument in a nut shell. Both have an important part in how you develop but I think that your society (nurture) has a greater influence.

One example of how my society influenced me is my view on the world. As a Jew I feel sympathy towards those who are less fortunate than me and human beings who are being oppressed by any type of entity. This doesn't mean people who aren't Jewish, can't be compassionate towards others, but my religion teaches me to help out those who can't help themselves.

Our social identity should increase our responsibility towards those we care about. We should still help those who we don't know, but naturally, we will help those we care about. If people had to choose whether to save their mother or a random stranger, and they could only save one, I think that basically all of us would save their mom. We will always help out those who we care about, but what if the people we cared about didn't help us? In class we talked about helping our parents when they were older and many in the class said they should unless their parents treated them bad when they were kids. People may feel this way but I still think that you help them. You might resent them for being bad parents, but they are still your parents. As long as they didn't do immense harm to you than I believe you help them.