How To Resolve Ethical Dilemmas in Work for the Greater Good
Here I explore how to tackle ethical dilemmas about your activism’s impact and how the greater good meaning can vary depending on your situation and ideology. Understanding the greater good in action will make you a better activist.
The greater good means actions and efforts that benefit society, promoting fairness, equality, and positive change. Achieving impact for the greater good isn’t always straightforward, though. Activists may encounter ethical dilemmas about how to make change.
Ethical Dilemmas
In popular fiction, characters deal with ethical dilemmas about the greater good in action. For example, in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch defends Tom Robinson, an African American man wrongly accused of a crime. As Finch seeks justice, his racist neighbors oppose his efforts.
In The Dark Knight, Batman faces a dilemma when the Joker threatens to blow up two ferries filled with civilians and convicts. The Joker gives each ferry the detonator for the other ferry’s bomb and gives them a choice to blow up the other ferry to save themselves. Batman must decide whether to intervene or trust that the people on the ferries will make the right choice for the greater good.
As an activist who works toward the greater good, you might have ethical dilemmas, too, but hopefully not like the one Batman faced.
Here are common ethical dilemmas:
Anna’s Dilemma: Among the many causes I care about, which should I focus on?
Many people face this dilemma. There are many ways to make change, so should an activist tackle multiple issues or focus on just one?
Anna is an environmental activist who fights mountaintop coal mining. One day her friend Jill calls to say she is pregnant and is undecided about her options. Would Anna help?
Over coffee, Anna listens as Jill talks through her conflicting emotions. Jill’s situation makes Emma realize the many issues involved in the right to choose, including preventing unwanted pregnancies and supporting people like Jill facing a difficult decision.
As the conversation progressed, Anna found herself facing a moral dilemma. She cares deeply about the pro-choice movement, especially now that her friend faces many difficult decisions. But her work on mountaintop mining is essential, too.
Paula’s Dilemma: What should I do if I can impact more people overseas than in my own community?
Paula witnesses the hardships her neighbors face in accessing basic healthcare. Driven to make a difference, she advocates for health equity in her community.
Then Paula meets Dr. Robin, an inspiring physician who provides healthcare for the underserved in overseas communities. Dr. Robin tells Paula about her work. As Paula listens, she imagines Dr. Robin’s work as greater good in action and yearns to make an impact beyond her own community.
On the one hand, Paula feels drawn to serve her neighbors, and there is much work she can do here. But she wonders about the impact she could make in less fortunate areas.
Sam’s Dilemma: When I have multiple activism options, how do I know which will make the most impact?
Sam has fought for consumer rights for many years. One day, Sam receives a call from his mentor, Amanda, who has exciting opportunities to share: three projects that can potentially create a significant impact for the greater good.
The first project is an environmental campaign to pressure corporations to reduce plastic. The second project is focused on fair labor practices and better working conditions in the worldwide garment industry. The third project involves fighting against price gouging by pharmaceutical companies, ensuring that life-saving medications are accessible.
As Sam listens to the descriptions of each project, he wants to tackle all three. Each can potentially create a significant positive impact, but spreading himself too thin could hinder his effectiveness.
The Greater Good Meaning
Anna, Paula, and Sam face a decision about how to impact the greater good.
The term greater good can be traced back to philosophical and ethical discussions dating back to ancient times. One of the earliest recorded references to the greater good can be found in the writings of ancient Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, who discussed pursuing the well-being and happiness of society rather than just individual interests. The idea has been around for centuries, and today, the greater good meaning has found its way into public policy, ethics, and decision-making. It is often used to describe actions or policies that prioritize a group’s or society’s overall benefit, even if it might require some sacrifices or compromises at the individual level.
But depending on our ideology, the greater good meaning varies. For example, here is a comparison of conservative and liberal definitions of the greater good.
Comparison of Conservative and Liberal Definitions of the Greater Good
Your activism choices may depend on how you define the greater good.
How are the Greater Good and Activism Impact Related?
A modern hat-tip to the term greater good is the field of effective altruism, which focuses on how our efforts and resources can make the most difference in the world.
Donations and Impact
Effective altruism is a guide for how to make the most of your charitable donations. You want your gift to make the most impact possible.
Effective altruism experts apply three criteria:
- Will it dramatically improve a vast number of lives?
It makes sense to want your donations to impact many lives. But some charities might have less impact than others.
- Will it make a significant change?
Effective altruists also evaluate the charity’s ability to make change. Within a particular cause, some charities make more difference than others. For example, providing anti-malarial bed nets offers 500 times the benefit of treating the disease.
- Is the cause neglected?
Effective altruists consider how much a cause is neglected. People in wealthy nations tend to donate locally, so charities in poorer countries are underfunded. Our money may go much further if we send it overseas.
Activism and Impact
In my book, What’s On Your Sign? How to focus your passion and change the world, I use a similar framework to help you determine the impact of your activism work. I call it effective activism.
The greater good and impact are closely related concepts, particularly when understanding the effects of activism.
So, let’s revisit the activist’s stories and see how they can use the greater good and impact to solve their dilemmas.
Ethical Dilemmas Revisited
Anna’s Dilemma, Part 2
At the root of Anna’s dilemma is her wish to solve all the problems she cares about. Emma is an environmental activist, but she cares deeply about another cause: reproductive rights.
Anna must find the cause closest to her heart for effectiveness and deep engagement.
So, she takes a step back to explore her values and dreams for the future. She realizes that eliminating mountaintop coal mining, the cause that first captured her heart, is still her first love. Her deep engagement in this cause and a good match to her passions and skills means she can make more impact.
But Anna recognizes the importance of supporting other movements, too. She can support Sarah and other women like her through boots-on-the-ground support, which involves short-term efforts such as writing letters, protesting, lobbying elected representatives, and donating.
Paula’s Dilemma, Part 2
At the root of Paula’s dilemma is the amount of impact she can make in her community vs. programs overseas. Money donated by Americans to causes overseas generally has a more significant impact than the amount donated within our country.
Torn between the two paths, Paula accompanies Dr. Robin to a remote area to support a community with healthcare services. There, she witnesses the stark reality of health inequality outside the US.
After her trip, Paula decides to continue her local health equality activism. Still, she donates a portion of her income to nonprofits serving communities overseas. She knows these donations will provide more services than they would locally.
Sam’s Dilemma, Part 2
Sam’s dilemma is a common one: choosing between multiple activism options. Sam uses the effective activism criteria to rank the three projects, with 1 being the top score and 3 the lowest.
Campaign Against Plastic PackagingFair Labor in the Garment IndustryDrug Company Price GougingLives impacted132Potential for change231Needs attention231Personal fit for my skills231Personal fit for my knowledge231Personal fit for my motivation132TOTAL10158
Pharmaceutical price gouging is the top cause for Sam. So, he joins a nonprofit focused on holding companies accountable and lobbying for legislative changes.
Though the other two projects remain close to Sam’s heart, he knows he has made the right choice. He understands that his focused efforts on the pharmaceutical campaign have more impact on the greater good.
Understanding the impact you can make on the greater good will make you a better activist.
