Virtue, moral teleology, and practice: bringing Alasdair MacIntyre into the sociology of morality

Theory and Society. 2026. Vol. 55. Article 21.

Bykov A.

This article seeks to introduce Alasdair MacIntyre’s conception of virtue ethics into the sociology of morality as a redeveloping field of enquiry, focusing on the ways it could advance the sociological understanding of moral life. I argue that the virtue perspective, particularly in MacIntyre’s version, allows for conceptualizing morality as a personally and socially continuous and coherent phenomenon essentially linked to the idea of the good, which implies a more integrated picture compared to those derived from cognitive and behavioral science. More specifically, I discuss several areas where MacIntyre’s ideas could be of value to the sociology of morality, including the application of the notion of human telos, its link to the sociological concepts of moral identity and character, and the social and cultural dimensions of virtue concepts. I conclude by summarizing the main features of a MacIntyrean framework for the sociology of morality, suggesting how his concepts of telos, practices, and traditions could be implemented and further advanced within the field.

Keywords: morality, teleology, sociology of morality, virtue ethics, MacIntyre

Publication based on the results of: The diversity of forms, effects and barriers to integration of modern Russian society in synchronic and diachronic dimensions (2025)