The Politics and Geography of Morality

The overall purpose of this research project is to, for the first time, empirically apply a leading social psychological theory about the role of morality in political opinion formation and polarisation, Moral Foundations Theory (MFT), in a larger Swedish population. Because the project is based on survey and register data of a quality that is unique for Sweden, collected for the 2024 wave of the Gemenskapsbarometern ("Community Barometer"), it contains an opportunity both to conduct a pioneering analysis of Swedes’ political opinions in a large number of different sections and to present new perspectives on the theory MFT as such. The project appears to us as an interesting and natural complement to the research project on trust, security, and community conducted by Lars Trägårdh, in collaboration with LF Forskningsstiftelse.

Theoretical starting point

MFT is based on the research that finds that humans are not born as a blank slate in moral terms and proposes that, due to evolutionary processes, they are disposed towards certain determined moral values (foundations) which are either individualist-oriented or community-oriented (Haidt & Joseph 2004; 2007). According to the original architect of the theory, there are at least six different foundations: liberty, fairness, care, loyalty, authority, and sanctity in the sense of inviolability (Haidt 2012).

The combinations of values—“moral matrices”—that are most natural for humans, according to the theory, have a decisive importance for their political opinions. Liberals tend to be disposed towards liberty, fairness, and care, and value loyalty, authority, and sanctity low. Conservative people are instead inclined to endorse all six values more or less equally, but probably interpret the meanings of liberty, fairness, and care differently from liberals. (The concepts are applicable in a European context and go beyond the left–right scale; see Wennström 2021.)

This difference can be tested empirically using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ; Graham et al. 2009; 2011). A comprehensive meta-analysis of studies that have used the MFQ finds that the difference between liberal and conservative morality indeed exists (Kivikangas et al. 2021).

So far, the MFT theory has not been tested in a Swedish context, except in a very small and probably non-representative population (Nilsson & Erlandsson 2015). A rich dataset exists in the latest edition of the Gemenskapsbarometern ("Community Barometer"), in which one survey question is directly based on the MFQ and a large number of other questions are well suited for analysis in line with the MFT theory.

Preliminary research questions

1) Are Swedes different?
a) Do all six moral values exist in the Swedish population?
b) How does the result relate to related studies such as the World Values Survey?
c) How do party sympathies group?

2) Determinants and geography of morality
a) How does morality vary with the individual’s characteristics (e.g., gender, ethnicity, education, income)?
b) Are there geographical variations within Sweden (between urban/rural, municipalities, districts)?
c) Does moral segregation exist among citizens along either (a) or (b), or both?

3) How do the results relate to:
a) The different forms of trust (particularised trust, generalised trust, local community trust)
b) Willingness to defend/resist
c) Emphasis on national identity

Project start

2025-09-01

Funding

LF Forskningsstiftelse

Researchers

Lars Trägårdh, Visiting Professor, IBF (Project Leader)
Daniel Almén, Researcher in Economics, IBF
Johan Wennström, Researcher, IBF