Virtue signalling

Virtue signalling is a pejorative neologism for when one expresses a morally disingenuous viewpoint with the intent of communicating good character.[1]

History

According to The Guardian, the term has been used since at least 2004,[2] and the term appeared in religious academic works in 2011[3] and 2010.[4] According to an article in The Spectator in 2015, British journalist James Bartholomew is often credited with originating the term.[5] Bartholomew claimed credit for its creation in later articles.[6] Merriam-Webster editor Emily Brewster describes virtue signalling as an academic-sounding counterpart to the term humblebrag, a term coined by Harris Wittels in 2010.[7]

Opinion

Psychologists Jillian Jordan and David Rand argue that virtue signalling is separable from true outrage towards a particular belief, but that in most cases individuals who are virtue signalling are in fact simultaneously experiencing true outrage.[8] Linguist David Shariatmadari argues in The Guardian that the very act of accusing someone of virtue signalling is an act of virtue signalling in itself, and that its overuse as an ad hominem attack during political debate has rendered it a meaningless political buzzword.[2] Zoe Williams, also writing for The Guardian, suggested the phrase was the "sequel insult to champagne socialist".[9]

Usage

Virtue signalling rose in popularity as a pejorative term, denouncing empty acts of public commitment (such as slacktivism and pathological altruism) to unexceptional good causes. Virtue signalling may incorporate some or all elements found in political correctness, self-righteousness, and moral superiority. In Bartholomew's original article, he describes virtue signalling as a public act with very little associated cost that is intended to inform others of one's socially acceptable alignment on an issue.[5]

Social media

Angela Nagle in her book Kill All Normies described the internet reactions to the Kony 2012 viral video as "what we might now call 'virtue signaling'", and that "the usual cycles of public displays of outrage online began as expected with inevitable competitive virtue signaling" in the aftermath of the killing of Harambe.[10] B.D. McClay wrote in The Hedgehog Review that signalling particularly flourished in online communities. It was unavoidable in digital interactions, because they lacked the qualities of offline life, such as spontaneity. When one filled out a list of one's favorite books for Facebook, one was usually aware of what that list said about oneself.[11]

Blackout Tuesday, a collective action that was intended to combat racism and police brutality that was carried out on June 2, 2020, largely by businesses and celebrities through social media in response to the killings of several black people by police officers, was criticized as a form of virtue signalling for the initiative's "lack of clarity and direction".[12]

Marketing

In addition to individuals, companies have also been accused of virtue signalling in marketing, public relations and brand communication.[13] Conspicuous consumption has been described as a form of consumer virtue signalling,[14][15] and the pre-conceived bias of end users may complicate business data gathering.

See also

References
  1. "virtue signalling – Definition of virtue signalling". Oxford Dictionaries – English. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  2. Shariatmadari, David (January 20, 2016). "Virtue-signalling – the putdown that has passed its sell-by date". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
  3. Bulbulia, Joseph (2012). "Spreading order: religion, cooperative niche construction, and risky coordination problems". Biology & Philosophy. 27 (1): 1–27. doi:10.1007/s10539-011-9295-x. PMC 3223343. PMID 22207773.
  4. Pyysiäinen, Ilkka (2010). Religion, Economy, and Cooperation. De Gruyter. p. 36. ISBN 978-3-11-024632-2.
  5. "The awful rise of 'virtue signalling'". The Spectator. 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
  6. "I invented 'virtue signalling'. Now it's taking over the world". The Spectator. 2015-10-10. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
  7. "Virtue signaling and other inane platitudes - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
  8. Jordan, Jillian; Rand, David (2019-03-30). "Opinion | Are You 'Virtue Signaling'?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
  9. Williams, Zoe (April 10, 2016). "Forget about Labour's heartland – it doesn't exist". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
  10. Nagle, Angela (2017). Kill All Normies. ISBN 978-1-78535-544-8. LCCN 2017934035. Retrieved June 21, 2020 – via Google Books.
  11. B.D. McClay (2018): Virtue Signaling, The Hedgehog Review, vol 20(2), p. 141–144.
  12. Savage, Mark (June 2, 2020). "TV, radio and music stars mark 'Blackout Tuesday'" – via www.bbc.com.
    "Outpouring of non-black support on Blackout Tuesday met with appreciation, skepticism" – via The Globe and Mail.
    Hornery, Andrew (June 6, 2020). "There's more to activism than Instagram black squares". The Sydney Morning Herald.
    "A social media 'blackout' enthralled Instagram. But did it do anything?". NBC News.
    Framke, Caroline (June 2, 2020). "Why Posting Black Boxes for #BlackoutTuesday, or Hashtags Without Action, Is Useless (Column)".
  13. "As Brands Rush to Speak Out, Many Statements Ring Hollow". The Business of Fashion. June 2, 2020.
  14. "Beware of Virtue Signaling in Brand Communications About COVID-19". Social Media Today.
  15. Wallace, E; Buil, I; de Chernatony, L (2018): ‘Consuming Good’ on Social Media: What Can Conspicuous Virtue Signalling on Facebook Tell Us About Prosocial and Unethical Intentions?, Journal of Business Ethics, doi: 10.1007/s10551-018-3999-7.

Further reading
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