Editing Moral universalism (section)

== Modern studies and measurement ==
There is a body of work studying moral universalism using experimental and survey data in Economics, recently reinvigorated by Harvard Economist [https://benjamin-enke.com Ben Enke]. The body broadly attempts to describe correlates with universalist preferences and to study the moral origins of political preferences or polarization. These efforts can be attributed as loosely inspired by the work of social psychologist, [[Jonathan Haidt]], and his [[Moral foundations theory|Moral Foundations Theory]]. 

The [[Moral foundations theory|Moral Foundations theory]], developed by [[Jonathan Haidt]] and colleagues, proposes that there are “intuitive ethics,” or morals that individuals subscribe to within cultures. There are five foundations that a person's behaviors tend to adhere to: care/harm, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, and sanctity/degradation. Haidt argues that these morals are cross-cultural, and alignment with them is present at birth.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Jonathan |last=Haidt |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1031966889 |title=Righteous Mind : Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. |date=2012 |publisher=Random House US |isbn=978-0-307-37790-6 |oclc=1031966889}}</ref> Of note, the Moral Foundations Theory does not assert that every culture has the same morals, but rather each has developed their own set of acceptable behaviors, and there tends to be overlaps in the aforementioned areas listed earlier.

=== Universalism and politics ===
Measurement regarding universalism and politics typically seeks to explain political divides from the moral ''origins'' of their supporters. Enke et al. have published a number of studies, including their canonical study, where they find that heterogeneity in universalism descriptively explains why the left and right both simultaneously support and oppose different types of government spending.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Enke |first1=Benjamin |last2=Rodríguez-Padilla |first2=Ricardo |last3=Zimmermann |first3=Florian |date=July 2020 |title=Moral Universalism and the Structure of Ideology |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w27511.pdf |language=en |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=w27511 |doi=10.3386/w27511|s2cid=214116079 }}</ref> They find that you can explain the left-right divide on topics such as redistribution through the level and quality of universalism in their respective politics (e.g., redistribution to US veterans, which is more morally loyalist, compared to redistribution via foreign aid). They find the political left to be broadly more universalistic. Haidt too has written about how his (broader) Moral Foundations theory can be applied to modern US politics.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schuman |first=Joseph |date=July 15, 2018 |title=The Righteous Mind: Moral Foundations Theory |url=https://dividedwefall.org/the-righteous-mind-moral-foundations-theory/ |work=Divided We Fall |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The idea of a [[universal basic income]] has also been put forward within politics.

=== Determinants of universalism ===
Enke and his coauthors also find that universalism is significantly related to observables: older people, men, the rich, the rural, and the religious exhibit less moral universalism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Enke |first1=Benjamin |last2=Rodríguez-Padilla |first2=Ricardo |last3=Zimmermann |first3=Florian |date=2022-05-01 |title=Moral Universalism: Measurement and Economic Relevance |url=https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2021.4086 |journal=Management Science |volume=68 |issue=5 |pages=3590–3603 |doi=10.1287/mnsc.2021.4086 |s2cid=221701522 |issn=0025-1909}}</ref> Moreover, universalists donate less money but to more global recipients. Behaviorally, universalists have fewer friends, spend less time with them, and feel more lonely.

These studies also allow us to compare the prevalence of universalism across countries and cultures. A large, cross-country survey study finds that socioeconomic experiences determine levels of universalism, with experience of democracy greatly helping.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cappelen |first1=Alexander W. |last2=Enke |first2=Benjamin |last3=Tungodden |first3=Bertil |date=2022 |title=Moral Universalism: Global Evidence |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4291744 |language=en |location=Rochester, NY|ssrn=4291744 }}</ref> Anthropologists at the [[University of Oxford]] published a study in 2019 examining 60 different cultures and their principles. This study was conducted by reviewing [[Ethnography|ethnographic]] content from each culture. Seven fundamentals were identified beforehand, and historic writings were analyzed to search for either positive or negative moral valence of each one. It was found that 99.9% of the time, these seven behaviors were considered “moral”: helping kin, helping group, reciprocating, being brave, respecting superiors, dividing resources, and respecting property.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Curry |first1=Oliver Scott |last2=Mullins |first2=Daniel Austin |last3=Whitehouse |first3=Harvey |date=2019-02-02 |title=Is It Good to Cooperate? Testing the Theory of Morality-as-Cooperation in 60 Societies |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/701478 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=47–69 |doi=10.1086/701478 |issn=0011-3204 |s2cid=150324056}}</ref> These principles appeared across all cultures studied, and only one counterexample was found: an instance of the “respecting property” value clashing with “being brave.”