The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

A code of ethics must be understood as an objec tive set of standards or principles which a man could use to help him decide the moral questions which he faces from time to time. The question is whether such a code should be ab solute or relative. A relative code of ethics would be a code which recognized the truth of the aphorism "circumstances alter cases." An absolute code of ethics would stand (as a standard) no matter whether anyone accepted it or not, and would be thought of in terms of being unaffected by any change of circumstances. The answer of this article is that a code of ethics must be both, because ethical behavior suffers when either of these categories is chosen to the exclusion of the other. Christian moral philosophers have put forth their answer not in terms of this paradox, but in a position called "contextual ethics." These moralists insist that right must always be de termined in the total context of the decision and of reality, and not by the application of an absolute moral law from outside the context of the circumstances, nor by deciding that right is always a little bit wrong and that wrong always has something to be said for it.—Ed.

A recent Gallup poll illustrates the fact that the profession of politics continues to be held in low esteem by the American public, an opinion probably reinforced by the Bobby Baker case. The President has issued an Executive Order set ting high standards for federal government employees, but Con gress lags behind the Executive branch. Among the ethical problems which confront the congressman are obligations in curred during the campaign; pressures from constituents, both as individuals and as groups; the conflicts which sometimes occur between the national interest and that of his district; low ethical conduct on the part of some colleagues; and occasional conflict between the real interests of his constituents and their expressed ideas as to what those interests are. There are four general areas where reform is needed to raise the ethical stand ards of Congress and its reputation with the public: legisla tion requiring comprehensive disclosure of the congressman's finances; legislation overhauling laws dealing with election campaign finances; diminution of the errand-boy aspects of the congressman's job; and elimination of political patronage at the federal level. Politics is a fundamental activity of our society, and if its ethical practice is not at as high a level as we might wish, the fault is in ourselves.—Ed.

After a period of blatant discriminatory practices during the postwar years, the federal government under Presi dents Kennedy and Johnson has initiated an attempt at reform. The principal administrative corrective being tried today in or der to prevent dishonesty and unfairness in public office is a body of regulations designed to safeguard the civil servant from temptation, for example, a sixteen-page letter of regula tions issued by the Civil Service Commission, as well as various similar rules issued by the individual departments of govern ment. This article suggests that in contrast to these methods the effective correctives are (1) vigor and clarity in setting forth the goals of government policy and day-to-day gov ernment activity, under the leadership of a forceful President; (2) persistent inspection within government agencies; and (3) swift legal action when an act of dishonesty is uncovered and swift administrative retribution when an act of unfairness is uncovered. Thus the public interest in equality before the government and in effective government is defended, and the dignity of the civil servant is preserved.—Ed.

The theme is developed around Paul H. Douglas' The Coming of a New Party (1932). Crying out against cor ruption and business domination in both major parties, Mr. Douglas saw hope only through the coming of a new party. The contrast between Mr. Douglas' "then" and our "now" is striking. "Public interest" has been redefined, with great new political power developed by labor, social security publics, minorities, price-supported farmers, and others with a stake in governmental intervention. Contributing also to the new environment in which political party officials must operate are stronger executive leadership, civil service and the "Hatch Act" type of legislation, improved public administration, and variables influencing party organization. All men are not inher ently evil, but in any competitive situation there are likely to be some who will stoop to whatever will get by. The degree of ethical array or disarray will depend in large part, there fore, on the levels of personal conduct and the approach toward the "public interest" which the environment will or will not tolerate.

While the ethics of the American judiciary cover a broad spectrum, both good and bad, the general over-all level of judicial ethical performance is relatively high. Most judges are honest and honorable. Where dissatisfaction is apparent, it is far more frequently directed at judicial competence than at judicial integrity and ethics. Corruption, dishonesty, sus ceptibility to political pressure, and other ethical lapses are, however, not unknown, and on very rare occasions have been extremely bad. The ethical obligations of the judiciary extend far beyond the basic essentials of honesty, impartiality, and fairness. Judges must not only avoid evil or wrongdoing, but must also avoid any appearance or suspicion of impropriety, both on the bench and in private life. Selected ethical prob lems are identified together with some of the areas where significant ethical lapses are to be found. While our judiciary has done well in meeting its ethical obligations, improvement is still needed. The best assurance for high ethical perform ance comes from insistence upon outstanding integrity from those selected for judicial office.

The Ombudsman is an agent of parliament who receives and may investigate citizens' grievances against bu reaucracy. His powers are to recommend, to publicize, and to report to parliament. The institution began in Sweden and has been adopted or considered by many other countries. There is widespread interest in the Ombudsman because the institu tion meets a general need in modern, industrialized nations for a means of resolving citizens' unique, individual problems with a depersonalized administration. The courts, which are slow and costly, do not provide adequate means of redressing citi zens' personal grievances. In the United States, congressmen have an Ombudsmanlike role in investigating and trying to solve constituents' problems. But this job—called "casework" on Capitol Hill—is so burdensome that it interferes with con gressmen's more important legislative and policy-making func tions. Congressman Reuss has proposed establishing an Ad ministrative Counsel, inspired by the Ombudsman, to take over a part of the "casework," thereby lightening the burden on con gressmen and aiding citizens more effectively. The Chairman of the Administrative Conference may also function as a kind of Ombudsman. California and other states and cities are considering establishment of Ombudsmen.

The American legal profession got its start under a cloud of public disapproval in part inherited from England, which resulted in low standards of legal education and tardiness in establishment of effective professional organizations, canons of ethics, and disciplinary procedures. Commendable progress has been made on these fronts, especially since the early years of this century, but more remains to be done. Ethical and dis ciplinary problems of lawyers today chiefly involve mishandling of funds, solicitation of legal business, and improper trial prac tices, including use of delay. Important remedial measures now needed include more adequate attention to ethics and professional responsibility in law school, further adoption of the principle of the unified state bar, revision and uniformity in the canons of ethics, and adoption of various specific meas ures against delay in court, along with more control of trials by better qualified judges and refusal of clients to request or condone sharp practices by their attorneys.

The ethical problems of the medical profession stem from the extraordinarily high value placed on life, well- being, and freedom from pain in our culture; from the neces sarily intimate relation of doctor and patient; from the strains of private practice, a small entrepreneur role, in a society of big government, big business, big labor, and big cities; from contradictory social values in matters of religion, sex, and right of privacy in the individual's own body; from failures of com munication between the profession and the public as to the na ture of medicine and the limits of science; and from the con flict over change in the organization of medical service. The profession has fought its battles with notable success on most fronts, but without a fully satisfactory answer to the tough problem of maintaining quality. Medical society discipline and malpractice suits have not provided effective enforcement. Isolated individual practice is diminishing. Group practice, certification of advanced training, widened hospital-staff mem bership, and improved hospital certification provide new disci plines to enforce quality. The language of medicine's codes and of the politico-economic debate have contributed to a pub lic image of guild restrictionism and self-protection. Though impossible to measure, change appears to have been, in fact, to marked improvement in quality and protection of the patient against negligent, incompetent, or exploitative medical service. The introduction of compulsory sickness insurance and social ized medicine raises the new ethical issue of the doctor's strike.

Organized religion does not claim to be perfect and is aware of certain hazards to its mission inherent in its very structures. Preoccupation with organizational machinery or spiritual compromise for the sake of institutional survival may defeat the goals it pursues. There is always a tension between the ideal and human efforts to attain it. Not imperfec tion in relation to proclaimed standards, but insincerity or cyni cism regarding them merits the charge of "unethical." Organized religion acts unethically whenever it compromises its prophetic role for the sake of institutional self-preservation, prestige, or power. Its dilemma arises from the fact that it must interact with the power structures in society which, as well as its own adherents, often seek to use religion to support their own interests instead of responding to its insights. To teach and inspire while understanding the shortcomings of humanity, to generate power from within instead of manipulating power from without, and to co-operate with other agencies for the common good without exploiting them or becoming their instruments for compromising goals—these are some of the ethical problems of organized religion.

Journalism in America occupies a unique posi tion because it is protected by the First Amendment to the Con stitution, which by implication gives it a public responsibility. The dilemma of the publisher, however, is that he is also a pri vate businessman who must make a profit to survive, and in the conflict between public enlightenment and private interest, he is found too often on the side of the conservative business interests which sustain his newspaper and whose viewpoints he usually shares. Advertising and public relations have come to dominate the output of the press, in many respects. In gov ernment, newspapers have become particularly the willing part ners of the image-makers. Advertising dominates the maga zine business even more completely, while broadcasting has government regulation to contend with as well. In sum, the public interest and the responsibility of the media have been the victims of economic pressures which have made the private interest paramount. In spite of some advances, the outlook is not hopeful.

The entertainments provided by the mass media are like the epic, the ancient theater, or the novel in that all present fiction which is received as truth. The new are more persuasive than the old because of the technological changes in the means of production and dissemination, because the line be tween the real and the fictional is blurred, and because, for eco nomic reasons, the formation of habit, as well as a dulling of the critical faculties, has become desirable, especially in com mercial broadcasting. The patron of the entertainment likes what he gets, without question, and certain of his wants are satisfied. There is, however, little effort to enlarge the range of satisfactions, and so much is given that such wants as are more difficult to satisfy and such satisfaction as can stir intelli gence or criticism are generally neglected. By inducing in ertia, the mass entertainments may contribute to the specific abuses of which they are often accused, such as incitement to violence or indifference to a strict sexual code. But it is their failure to serve the independence of mind of their followers, to stir the critical faculties, that is more serious.

Answers to questions about the ethical posture of American business require reference to the corporate, as dis tinguished from individualistic, nature of business. The tone of business is largely set by the corporate giants which domi nate the American economy. Corporate officials doubtless are normally the embodiment of rectitude in their personal life, but the several "publics" with which a corporation must deal pose difficult problems of accommodation, as yet unanswered. These problems will remain unanswered unless and until an adequate politico-economic theory of the corporation is pro duced. In the meantime, a rough analogy may be drawn be tween the corporation within the nation-state and the nation- state itself in its external affairs; corporate managers and national leaders, to some extent, have similar problems of accommodating competing interests. This accommodation is made more difficult because of the lack of clear external stand ards, from either law or the ethical leaders, through which pro posed decisions may be evaluated.

An attempt to appraise the ethical posture of the insurance industry is complicated by the fact that it is an in separable mixture of business and professional relations, while business ethics and professional ethics are by no means the same. No code of ethics applying to the industry as a whole has been composed, although some groups of insurance prac titioners have made brief formal declarations of ethical intent. There is evidence of dissatisfaction with the ethics of certain segments of the industry, expressed by regulatory authorities, agents and brokers, and others. Insurance is likened to a pro fession because most of those who buy it are unequipped to ap praise accurately the quality of the service they have bought. Caveat emptor has no place in such a relationship, and the pro fessional ethic is essential to proper service. No recent im provement in the ethics of the industry is noted, and possibly some deterioration, but the level compares not unfavorably to that in other industries. However, there is ample room for improvement, particularly in the realm of pricing, advertising, and fair treatment of claimants. Improvement would result if more insurance statesmanship were exhibited by all segments of the industry, but insurance ethics are so closely related to the ethics of the whole business community that any notable improvement must await the rise of the general level.

Practices in merchandising and advertising should not be appraised merely in terms of traditional mores, ethical codes, and rules of conduct in the United States. Traditional ethical precepts must be interpreted also in relation to the re quirements of the "rule of competition," our announced na tional economic policy, which insists upon the independent, competitive offering of goods and services. Hence, acceptable business behavior is determined not only by community values, but also by the public regulations affecting competitive rela tions. Such regulations are becoming stricter for goods and services important to health and safety, but a large element of caveat emptor must remain in other situations under legally recognized "puffing" in advertising and selling. Existing fed eral, state, and local law regulations and agencies are entirely adequate for dealing with fraudulent and deceptive practices, given the will and resources for enforcement. It would be a mistake in judgment to try to establish "good taste" by legis lation. This aspect of community values must be expressed through a host of formal and informal voluntary programs and endeavors or through the public services. But choices between public and private offerings and voluntary, co-operative ar rangements, like choices under the competitive market system itself, should be among genuine, free alternatives.

The legislative findings providing the basis for the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) of 1959 brought to light a great variety of improper activities by unions and union officers. To persons familiar with the his tory of American trade-unionism, there was little, if anything, new in these revelations. From time to time, from the begin ning of unionism, there have been some labor leaders who have robbed and plundered and who have regarded the union as their private domain. The major underlying factor appears to be that as a union grows in power and membership, control of its policies passes from the man at the bench to paid union officials. Although this power transfer is not to be regarded as something contrived by power-hungry officers, it does lend itself to mal practice by unscrupulous union officials. The national unions themselves, and particularly the American Federation of Labor- Congress of Industrial Organizations, have tried to impose re form by constitutional amendment and by drawing up codes of ethical practices. However, because of the structure of Ameri can unionism, enforcement of these codes is difficult. The article suggests that the LMRDA, which makes fair practices by unions the law of the land and which incorporates many of the features of the unions' own reform measures, can aid in this reform.—Ed.

The professional patriot has existed in every age. He is characterized by a tendency to repeat endlessly his own claim to patriotic virtue, not infrequently hiding ulterior ends (economic gain, for example, or personal power) behind his slogans. More often than not, he has a conspiratorial view of history, associates patriotism with the waging of war, and con centrates his ideological attack on a central enemy. In modern American life, that foe is communism, the crusade against which is often used to condemn any basic social change. The profes sional tends to associate free enterprise with the "true Ameri can way" and frequently mixes together religious, economic, and patriotic slogans. The goals of the professional patriot can hardly be approved by those who reject the supreme value of the nation-state and who look forward to greater human solidarity. A conscientious human being, moreover, cannot promise unqualified loyalty to any organization or person, but only to the right as he sees it. Methods often used by the pro fessional patriot are widely condemned, and rightly so. But the repudiation tends to be merely verbal, for in fact those methods—prevarication, distortion, and ethnocentrism in inter national morals—are in considerable degree approved in prac tice. Although the professional may represent unethical means in their more blatant forms, he is not alone in adhering to them.