2.3 Ethical Concerns

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

• Understand why ethical standards exist
• Investigate unethical studies
• Demonstrate awareness of the American Sociological Association’s Code of Ethics

Sociologists conduct studies to shed light on human behaviors. Knowledge is a powerful tool that can be used to achieve positive change. As a result, conducting a sociological study comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility. Like all researchers, sociologists must consider their ethical obligation to avoid harming human subjects or groups while conducting research.

Pioneer German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920) identified another crucial ethical concern. Weber understood that personal values could distort the framework for disclosing study results. While he accepted that some aspects of research design might be influenced by personal values, he declared it was entirely inappropriate to allow personal values to shape the interpretation of the responses. Sociologists, he stated, must establish value neutrality, a practice of remaining impartial, without bias or judgment, during a study and in published results (Weber, 1949). Sociologists are obligated to disclose research findings without omitting or distorting significant data.

Is value neutrality possible? Many sociologists believe it is impossible to retain complete objectivity. They caution readers, rather, to understand that sociological studies may contain a certain amount of value bias. This does not discredit the results but allows readers to view them as one form of truth—one fact-based perspective. Some sociologists attempt to remain uncritical and as objective as possible when studying social institutions. They strive to overcome personal biases, particularly subconscious biases when collecting and analyzing data. They avoid skewing data to match a predetermined outcome that aligns with a particular agenda, such as a political or moral point of view. Investigators are ethically obligated to report results, even when they contradict personal views, predicted outcomes, or widely accepted beliefs.

The American Sociological Association, or ASA, is the major professional organization of sociologists in North America. The ASA is a great resource for students of sociology as well. The ASA maintains a code of ethics—formal guidelines for conducting sociological research—consisting of principles and ethical standards to be used in the discipline. These formal guidelines were established by practitioners in 1905 at John Hopkins University, and revised in 1997. When working with human subjects, these codes of ethics require researchers to do the following:

• Maintain objectivity and integrity in research
• Respect subjects’ rights to privacy and dignity
• Protect subject from personal harm
• Preserve confidentially
• Seek informed consent
• Acknowledge collaboration and assistance
• Disclose sources of financial support

Unfortunately, when these codes of ethics are ignored, it creates an unethical environment for humans to be involved in a sociological study. Throughout history, there have been numerous unethical studies, some of which are summarized below.

Figure 2.11 Participants in the Tuskegee study were denied important information about their diagnosis, leading to significant health issues. (Credit: Centers for Disease Control)

The Tuskegee Experiment

This study was conducted in 1932 in Macon County, Alabama, and included 600 Black men, 399 diagnosed with syphilis. The study was driven by the racial stereotype that Black men were overly sexual, which the researchers believed is why they had contracted syphilis and why they formulated their study to only focus on Black men.  The participants were told they were diagnosed with a disease of “bad blood,” so were not fully informed of what the study was about and thus did not fully consent to being participants. In the 1940s, while the study was still being conducted, Penicillin was discovered to be an effective cure for the disease.  However, the participants were not administered treatment because the objective of the study was to see “how untreated syphilis would affect the African-American male” (Caplan, 2007).  Many of the participants did not survive despite Penicillin treatment being readily available.

Henrietta Lacks

Ironically, this study was conducted at the hospital associated with Johns Hopkins University, where the codes of ethics originated. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a Black mother receiving treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital, was discovered to have “immortal” cells that could reproduce rapidly and indefinitely, making them extremely valuable for medical research. Without her consent, doctors collected and shared her cells to produce extensive cell lines. Lacks’ cells were widely used for experiments and treatments, including the polio vaccine, and were put into mass production. Today, these cells are known worldwide as HeLa cells (Shah, 2010).  Lacks did not survive the cervical cancer she was being treated for at Johns Hopkins, and her family was never compensated for the scientific research and discoveries that came from her cells.

Milgram Experiment

In 1961, psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment at Yale University. Its purpose was to measure the willingness of study subjects to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their conscience. People in the role of teacher believed they were administering electric shocks to students who gave incorrect answers to word-pair questions. No matter how concerned they were about administering the progressively more intense shocks, the teachers were told to keep going. The ethical concerns involve the extreme emotional distress faced by the teachers, who believed they were hurting other people. (Vogel 2014).

Philip Zimbardo and the Stanford Prison Experiment

In 1971, psychologist Phillip Zimbardo conducted a study involving students from Stanford University. The students were put in the roles of prisoners and guards and were required to play their assigned roles accordingly. The experiment was intended to last two weeks, but it only lasted six days due to the negative outcome and treatment of the “prisoners.” Beyond the ethical concerns, the study’s validity was also questioned after participants revealed they had been coached to behave in specific ways.

Laud Humphreys

In the 1960s, Laud Humphreys conducted experiments at restrooms in parks known for sexual encounters between men (many of whom were not out). His objective was to understand the diversity of backgrounds and motivations of the men seeking same-sex relationships. His ethics were questioned because he did not ask for informed consent from the men he observed, he found their private information by collecting their license plates, and then subsequently withheld his identity and intent while questioning the men he interviewed after approaching them at their own homes (Nardi, 1995).