This book attempts to understand and address the psycho-social dynamics behind South Africa’s moral crisis. It describes South Africa as afflicted by state capture, violence, corruption, and the looting of state infrastructure thirty years after the establishment of democracy. It then provides a holistic, social diagnosis of this problem that integrates the findings of different disciplines into an overall picture of the forces at work in South Africa's collective moral decline.

Ultimately, this book engages with the deeper psycho-social phenomena behind South Africa’s moral decline, arguing that the diagnostic question of why this moral decline has taken place must be answered before turning to the normative question of what ought to happen in this situation. Accordingly, this book explores themes regarding the innate moral capacities of the human person, the effects of need pressures and systemic pressures on ethical decision-making, and the phenomena of distorted motivational drives and distorted behavioral responses. It shows how the framing of virtue-centered moral identities might act as buffers against moral disengagement strategies and assist in promoting pro-social behavior. It then specifies the macro-social changes required to create such an ethical-social climate.

The book is of interest to social scientists, ethicists, behavioral scientists, educators, theologians, and moral philosophers. In the end, this case study of South Africa shows us more broadly how maintaining public morality and social cohesion is a challenge that most modern societies face.         

Nico Vorster is Professor at the North-West University in South Africa. His fields of expertise are in systematic theology and social ethics. He has written two monographs and numerous articles on ethical issues within the South African context. Vorster's research is wholly interdisciplinary and cuts across the fields of theology, philosophy, sociology, political science, constitutional law, and moral psychology. He has been involved in grassroots community organizing and public advocacy. These practical experiences have honed his understanding of the psycho-social phenomena behind South Africa's moral crisis.