Virtue signalling: Difference between revisions

'''''Virtue signalling''''' is a pejorative [[neologismpejorative]] term for the ideaact of showing oneself to have good character, such as by expressing opinions that anare expressionconsidered ofmorally aacceptable, often on [[Morality|moralsocial media]]. The viewpointterm is beingoften doneused disingenuously,to withsuggest thethat intentsuch ofexpressions communicatingare goodinsincere characteror [[grandstanding]].<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Neil |last1=Levy |title=Virtue signalling is virtuous |journal=Synthese |date=16 April 2020 |volume=198 |issue=10 |pages=9545–9562 |issn=1573-0964 |doi=10.1007/s11229-020-02653-9 |s2cid=215793854 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Hamilton 2019">{{cite webmagazine |accessdatelast1=2021-09-04Hamilton |first1=Andrew |title='Virtue signalling' and other slimy words |url=https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/articleuploads/file/pdf/new/190310.pdf#page=12 |access-virtue-signalling--and-other-slimy-wordsdate=28 July 2024 |websitemagazine=Eureka Street |issue=5 |volume=29 |pages=12–14 |date=19 March 2019 }}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=July 2024 |reason=Editorials are reliable only for statements attributed to author}}<ref name="2021SlurStollznow 2020">{{cite web |first1=Karen |last1=Stollznow |accessdate=2021-09-04 |title='Virtue signalling', a slur meant to imply moral grandstanding that might not be all bad |url=http://theconversation.com/virtue-signalling-a-slur-meant-to-imply-moral-grandstanding-that-might-not-be-all-bad-145546 |website=The Conversation |date=28 September 2020 }}</ref>

According to the ''[[Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary|Cambridge Dictionary]]'', virtue signalling is "an attempt to show other people that you are a good person, for example by expressing opinions that will be acceptable to them, especially on social media... indicating that one has virtue merely by expressing disgust or favour for certain political ideas or cultural happenings".<ref name="DictCambridge Dictionary">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Virtue signalling |encyclopedia= Cambridge Dictionary |date= |year= |last= |first= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location= |id= |url= https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/virtue-signalling |quote=an attempt to show other people that you are a good person, for example by expressing opinions that will be acceptable to them, especially on social media |access-date= November 26, 2021}}</ref> The expression is often used to imply by the user that the [[virtue]] being signalled is exaggerated or insincere.<ref name="2021RCEEriksen 2021">{{Cite web |url=https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/08/02/virtue_signaling_what_is_it_and_why_is_it_so_dangerous_788208.html |title=Virtue Signaling: What Is It and Why Is It So Dangerous? |last=Eriksen |first=Olivia |work=RealClearEnergy |quote=Virtue signaling is defined at the act of publicly expressing opinions in order to demonstrate that you are a good person. However, this has become muddied with placing more importance on the appearance of moral correctness, than the correctness itself. |date=August 2, 2021 |access-date=November 26, 2021}}</ref>

One example often cited as virtue signalling is "[[greenwashing]]" (a compound word modelled on "[[Whitewashing (censorship)|whitewash]]"), when a company deceptively claims or suggests that its products or policies are more [[environmentally friendly]] than they actually are.<ref name="2021RCEEriksen 2021"/><ref name="2021EcoFancy 2021">{{Cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2021/11/04/tariq-fancy-on-the-failure-of-green-investing-and-the-need-for-state-action |title=Tariq Fancy on the failure of green investing and the need for state action |last=Fancy |first=Tariq |newspaper=The Economist |quote=We, along with virtually every other large asset manager, eagerly engaged in a form of financial virtue-signalling that has become de rigueur in the industry, exaggerating how beneficial ESG information had suddenly become to all our investment processes. |date=November 4, 2021 |access-date=28 July 2024 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

AccordingDavid toShariatmadari writes in ''[[The Guardian]]'', that the term has been used since at least 2004,<ref name="Sell-ByShariatmadari 2016" /> appearing for example in religious academic works in 2010<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pyysiäinen |first1=Ilkka |title=Religion, Economy, and Cooperation |date=2010 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-024632-2 |page=36}}</ref> and 2012.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bulbulia |first1=Joseph |title=Spreading order: religion, cooperative niche construction, and risky coordination problems |journal=Biology & Philosophy |year=2012 |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=1–27 |doi=10.1007/s10539-011-9295-x |pmid=22207773 |pmc=3223343 |quote=Other cultural evolutionary models show that prestige and success biases may combine with imitative learning and virtue-signalling to favour religious cultural transmission (Henrich 2009)}}</ref> [[Nassim Nicholas Taleb]] cites {{bible|Matthew|6:1–4}} as an example of "virtue signalling" being proclaimedcondemned as a vice also in antiquity ("Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven")."<ref name="talebTaleb 2019">{{cite book |last1=Taleb |first1=Nassim Nicholas |title=[[Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life]] |date=2019 |publisher=Penguin |location=Great Britain |isbn=9780141982656 |pages=185–187}}</ref>

British journalist [[James Bartholomew (journalist)|James Bartholomew]] claims to have originated the pejorative usage of the term "virtue signalling," in a 2015 ''[[The Spectator|Spectator]]'' article.<ref name=":83Bartholomew 2018">{{Citecite magazine |last1=Bartholomew |first1=James |title=The awful rise of 'virtue signalling' web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2015article/04/hating-the-dailyawful-mailrise-isof-avirtue-substitute-for-doing-goodsignalling/ |titleaccess-date=The28 awfulJuly rise2024 of 'virtue signalling'|date=2015-04-18|websitemagazine=The Spectator |access-date=2019-11-24|quote=It’s5 noticeableJuly how2018 often|url-access=limited}}</ref><ref virtuename="Bartholomew signalling2015">{{cite consistsmagazine of|last1=Bartholomew saying|first1=James you|title=I hateinvented things.'virtue It is camouflagesignalling'. The emphasis on hate distracts from the fact you are really saying how good you are. If you were frank and said,Now it'Is caretaking aboutover the environment more than most people do'.. your vanity and self-aggrandisement would be obvious}}</ref><ref name=":13">{{Citeworld web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/10article/i-invented-virtue-signalling-now-itsit-s-taking-over-the-world/ |titleaccess-date=I28 inventedJuly 'virtue2024 signalling'. Now it's taking over the world|date=2015-10-10|websitemagazine=The Spectator |access-date=2019-11-24|quote=The8 phraseOctober came2015 to me after years of trying to come up with the something. Researching my previous book, ''The Welfare State We’re In'', I came to realise that the Victorians and Edwardians gave vastly more money to charity than people do now.|url-access=limited}}</ref> His 2015 formulation described virtue signalling as empty boasting (directly or otherwise):<ref name=":83Bartholomew 2018"/>

[[Merriam-Webster]] editor Emily Brewster describes both "virtue signalling" and "[[humblebrag]]" (a term coined by [[Harris Wittels]] in 2010) as examples of "self-glorifying online behavior.".<ref name=":142Peters 2015">{{Citecite news |last1=Peters |first1=Mark |title=Virtue signaling and other inane platitudes web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/12/24/virtue-signaling-and-other-inane-platitudes/YrJRcvxYMofMcCfgORUcFO/story.html |titleaccess-date=Virtue28 signalingJuly and other inane platitudes -2024 |work=The Boston Globe |websitedate=BostonGlobe.com24 December 2015 |accessurl-dateaccess=2019-11-25limited}}</ref>

[[Angela Nagle]], in her book ''[[Kill All Normies]],'' described 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]].<ref name="Nagle 2017">{{cite book |last1=Nagle |first1=Angela |author-link1=Angela Nagle |title=Kill All Normies |year=2017 |publisher=John Hunt Publishing |isbn=978-1-78535-544-8 |urllccn=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-MlDwAAQBAJ&q=virtue+signaling2017934035}}{{page needed|access-date=JuneJuly 21, 2020 |via=[[Google Books]] |lccn=20179340352024}}</ref> 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 favourite books for [[Facebook]], one was usually aware of what that list said about oneself.<ref name="McClay 2018">{{cite journal |last1=McClay |first1=B. D. McClay|title=Virtue Signaling |journal=The Hedgehog Review |date=Summer (2018): [|volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=141–144 |url=https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/identitieswhat-are-they-good-for/articles/virtue-signaling "Virtue Signaling"], ''The Hedgehog Review'', |issn=2324-867X}}</ref>vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 141–144.</ref>

[[Blackout Tuesday]], a collective action that was ostensibly intended to combat racism and [[police brutality]] that was carried out on June{{nbsp}}2, 2020, mainly 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".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://variety.com/2020/tv/columns/blackout-tuesday-instagram-blacklivesmatter-1234623358/ |title=Why Posting Black Boxes for #BlackoutTuesday, or Hashtags Without Action, Is Useless (Column) |first1=Caroline |last1=Framke |date=June 2, 2020 |quote=this rush to virtue-signal support without providing substantive aid is an all too familiar instinct on social media, where an issue can become a trend that people feel the need to address in some way, whether or not it makes sense or does any actual good.}}</ref><ref name="2020NBCHo 2020">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/social-media-blackout-enthralled-instagram-did-it-do-anything-n1230181 |title=A social media 'blackout' enthralled Instagram. But did it do anything? |last=Ho |first=Shannon |work=NBC |quote=The word "slacktivism" traces to 1995 as a portmanteau of "slacker" and "activism". As elements of life have moved online in the 25 years since, slacktivism has come to represent halfhearted social media-based activity, along with other terms like "virtue signaling" and "performative allyship". |date=June 13, 2020 |access-date=November 26, 2021}}</ref>

In addition to individuals, companies have also been accused of virtue signalling in [[marketing]], [[public relations]], and brand communication.<ref name="Mondalek 2020">{{Citecite web |last1=Mondalek |first1=Alexandra |title=As Brands Rush to Speak Out, Many Statements Ring Hollow |url=https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/professionalmarketing-pr/george-floyd-black-lives-matter-protest-fashion-brands-response-louis-vuitton-nike/ |titleaccess-date=As28 BrandsJuly Rush2024 to|url-access=subscription Speak Out, Many Statements Ring Hollow|date=June 2, 2020|website=The Business ofJune Fashion2020}}</ref> Virtue signalling has been noted{{By whom|date=July 2024}} in some brands' reactions to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/beware-of-virtue-signaling-in-brand-communications-about-covid-19/574168/|title=Beware of Virtue Signaling in Brand Communications About COVID-19|website=Social Media Today}}</ref><ref>Wallace, E; Buil, I; de Chernatony, L (March 2020)[21 August 2018]: [https://publications.aston.ac.uk/id/eprint/37230/1/JBE_Manuscript.pdf]<ref name="Wallace 2020">{{"cite journal |last1=Wallace |first1=Elaine |last2=Buil |first2=Isabel |last3=de Chernatony |first3=Leslie |title='}}Consuming Good' on Social Media: What Can Conspicuous Virtue Signalling on Facebook Tell Us About Prosocial and Unethical Intentions?"] ''|journal=Journal of Business Ethics'', '''|date=2020 |volume=162''', pp.|issue=3 |pages=577–592. {{doi|doi=10.1007/s10551-018-3999-7 |url=https://publications.aston.ac.uk/id/eprint/37230/1/JBE_Manuscript.pdf |issn=1573-0697}}.</ref>{{Examples needed|date=April 2024}}

Actors and other celebrities may be accused of virtue-signalling if their actions are seen to contradict their expressed views.<ref name="2021ViceSigShrimsley 2019">{{Cite web |url=https://www.ft.com/content/cf4d3d5c-7129-11e9-bf5c-6eeb837566c5 |title=Once you're accused of virtue-signalling, you can't do anything right |last=Shrimsley |first=Robert |work=Financial Times |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190511145246/https://www.ft.com/content/cf4d3d5c-7129-11e9-bf5c-6eeb837566c5 |archive-date=2019-05-11 |quote=Virtue-signalling, for those who have never felt drawn to the term, is the apparently modern crime of trying to be seen doing the right thing...One regular whipping girl for this abuse is the actor Emma Thompson, who recently rocked up at the Extinction Rebellion protests to give her support, only to be caught days later sipping champagne while flying first class. How her opponents howled. |date=May 10, 2019 |access-date=December 25, 2021}}</ref>

== OpinionReception ==

Psychologists Jillian Jordan and [[David G. Rand|David Rand]] arguedargue that virtue signalling is separable from genuine outrage towards a particular belief, but in most cases, individuals who are virtue signalling are, in fact, simultaneously experiencing genuine outrage.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/opinion/sunday/virtue-signaling.html |title=Opinion {{!}} Are You 'Virtue Signaling'? |last1=Jordan |first1=Jillian |date=2019-03-30 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2019-11-25 |last2=Rand |first2=David |issn=0362-4331 |url-access=limited}}</ref> Linguist David Shariatmadari arguedargues in ''The Guardian'' that the very act of accusing someone of virtue signalling is an act of virtue signalling in itself.<ref name="Sell-ByShariatmadari 2016">{{cite news |last1=Shariatmadari |first1=David |title=Opinion {{!}} 'Virtue-signalling' – the putdown that has passed its sell-by date |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/20/virtue-signalling-putdown-passed-sell-by-date |title=Virtueaccess-signalling&nbsp;– the putdown that has passed its sell-by date|last=Shariatmadari|first=David|date=January28 20,July 2024 2016|newspaperwork=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=20 January 2016-04-11}}</ref> ''[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]''{{'}}s Karen Stollznow said that the term is often used as "a sneering insult by those on the right against progressives to dismiss their statements.".<ref name="2021SlurStollznow 2020"/> [[Zoe Williams]], also writing for ''The Guardian'', suggested the phrase was the "sequel insult to [[champagne socialist]]".<ref name="Williams 2016">{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Zoe|author-link1=Zoe Williams |title=Opinion {{!}} Forget about Labour's heartland&nbsp; – it doesn't exist |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/10/labour-heartland-doesnt-exist-voters |access-date=April28 10,July 2024 2016|newspaperwork=The Guardian |quotedate=it10 doesn’tApril have very much meaning, beyond 'person X holds views less compromised and more ambitious than mine, ergo, person X is a narcissist who uses other people's misery as grist to their own self-fashioning.|access-date=2016-04-11}}</ref>

''[[Financial Times]]'' editor Robert Shrimsley suggested the term "'''vice signalling'''" as a counterweightcounterpoint to virtue signaling:<ref name="2021ViceSigShrimsley 2019"/>

Stephen Bush, also in the ''Financial Times'', describes vice signalling as "ostentatious displays of authoritarianism designed to reassure voters that you are [[Law and order (politics)|“tough” on crime]] or [[Opposition to immigration|immigration]]."., and that it "risks sending what is, in a democracy, the most dangerous signal of all: that politicians do not really care about their electorate’s concerns, other than as a device to win and to hold on to their own power.". In particular, Bush cited Donald Trump's [[Trump wall|Mexican border wall pledge]] and Boris Johnson's [[Rwanda asylum plan]].<ref name="Bush 2022">{{cite news |last1=Bush |first1=Stephen |title=How 'vice-signalling' swallowed electoral politics |url=https://www.ft.com/content/6d3090ae-bb3d-479c-8025-d7890dcb3947 |titleaccess-date=How28 'vice-signalling'July swallowed electoral politics2024 |authorwork=StephenFinancial BushTimes |date=22 June 2022 |url-06-23access=subscription |publisherquote=FinancialAlthough Timesthe term’s precise origins are contested, it was popularised in a Spectator column by the writer James Bartholomew, who defined the act as 'indicating you are kind, decent and virtuous' while being anything but.}}</ref>

"Vice signalling" has been used variously elsewhere,{{By whom|date=July 2024}} to refer either to "show[ing] you are tough, hard-headed, a dealer in uncomfortable truths, and, above all, that you live in 'the real world'", in a way that goes beyond what actual pragmatism requires,<ref name="Cohen 2018">{{cite webmagazine |last1=Cohen |first1=Nick |title=The Tories are the masters of 'vice signalling' |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-tories-are-the-masters-of-vice-signalling- |first=Nick |last=Cohen |website=[[The Spectator]] |titleaccess-date=The28 ToriesJuly are2024 the|date=25 mastersMay of 'vice signalling'2018 |dateurl-access=2018-05-25limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211002231929/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-tories-are-the-masters-of-vice-signalling- |archive-date=2021-10-02 }}</ref> or to "a public display of immorality, intended to create a community based on cruelty and disregard for others, which is proud of it at the same time.".<ref name="Berlatsky 2020">{{cite webnews |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508144808/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/bethany-mandel-grandma-killer-tweet-coronavirus-lockdown-protest-a9504391.html |archive-date=2020-05-08 |url-status=live |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/bethany-mandel-grandma-killer-tweet-coronavirus-lockdown-protest-a9504391.html |access-date=28 July 2024 |date=2020-05-07 |title=As Bethany Mandel's 'grandma killer' tweet proves, vice-signaling is the right's newest and most toxic trend |first=Noah |last=Berlatsky |websitework=[[The Independent]] }}</ref>

* [[Woke]] and [[woke capitalism]]