Rationalizing Exploitation: Cognitive Dissonance in Unethical Consumption amidst Urban Indian Neighbourhoods
Mayank Jayaswal
My name is Mayank Jayaswal and I’m an international student from India. I’m in my second year of BSc (Hons) Psychology degree. I’ve always been interested in exploring and applying ethical and moral philosophy to real-world issues, which has formed the basis of my rationale for this project.
About the Project
Cognitive Dissonance (mental discomfort) arises when a self-concept e.g. virtue/morality is contradicted by our behaviour e.g. consuming unethically sourced goods. Subsequently, people employ defence mechanisms like rationalization to justify their behaviour to mitigate cognitive dissonance. Since dissonance is mediated by self-concepts, each individual’s definition of ethical consumption shall vary, and thereby lead them to using different rationalization strategies. In this project, I will explore the rationalization strategies used by consumers of gig platforms that unethically exploit millions of gig workers who don’t qualify for legal minimum wage in Indian cities. Identifying rationalization strategies will explain whether consumers view the platforms as ethical since they source voluntary labour (libertarian framework), or as inevitable results of socio-economic class oppression (Marxist framework), or through an entirely unique ethical framework. Existing literature outlines customer apathy towards worker conditions in cases of increased distance between the two, however Indian neighbourhoods are characteristically hyperlocal with minimal distance between consumers and workers. Therefore, I will identify these strategies by conducting semi-structured interviews with a stratified sample of Indian consumers and use moral philosophical frameworks to conduct a thematic analysis of the transcripts. This can help future research in designing interventions to mitigate demand for similarly exploitative models.