Children’s Moral Education as a Contextualized Phenomenon: A Critical Sociological Re-reading

Articles in Press

Document Type : پژوهشی

Author

Marzieh Aali

Assistant Professor, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

10.22067/fedu.2026.98087.1503

Abstract

In recent decades, the reconsideration of children’s moral education through interdisciplinary approaches has become a central concern in the philosophy of education. The present article aims to offer a critical reflection on a renewed possibility for reconstructing moral education by integrating virtue ethics with critical sociology, thereby providing a conceptual and practical framework for rethinking this field. The main question guiding this study is how a conceptual linkage between virtue ethics and core sociological categories such as inequality, justice, and capital can contribute to the development of a critical framework for children’s moral education within contemporary school and social contexts.
Methodologically, the article is grounded in conceptual analysis and adopts a philosophical–interpretive approach, in which ethical and sociological concepts are re-examined through a dialectical dialogue. The findings indicate that an interdisciplinary interpretation of virtue ethics—one that foregrounds social dynamics and unequal structures emphasized in critical sociology—can shift moral education away from abstract and individualistic orientations toward a contextualized, concrete, and critical understanding.
From this perspective, moral education is not merely an individual process but a form of ethical formation embedded within social fields, shaped by learners’ cultural and social capital. Accordingly, strengthening interdisciplinary perspectives in discussions of moral education can foster the development of a critical and transformative approach to educational policymaking.

Keywords

moral education

virtue ethics

educational justice

critical sociology

Subjects

• Foundations of Education

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