Moral Regulation and Making-Up the New Person:

Abstract

Today we are witnessing a significant moralization of social conflicts; projects of moral regulation abound over pornography, drugs, child abuse and many other issues. It is therefore pertinent to examine the nature and mechanisms of moral regulation. It is important to take account of the fact that moral regulation does not only involve a specific moral arena, but rather is a component of all fields of social relations. For this reason Antonio Gramsci's account of `Fordism' is significant because he focuses attention on the part played by moral and sexual regulation in the social construction of the new worker. This paper explores the originality of Gramsci's discussion of Fordism as moral regulation. It draws lessons from both the strengths and weaknesses of Gramsci's treatment for our understanding of the part played by projects of moral regulation in contemporary social issues.