Fragmented creative labor diffuses blame and kills personal responsibility.

Evidence

Multiple contributors make it easy to fix the blame for excessive violence on others. For example, here is a writer blaming advertisers for the prevalence of violence on television: “We aren’t going to get rid of violence until we get rid of advertisers. The advertiser wants something exciting with which to get the audience. Violence equals excitement equals ratings” (Baldwin & Lewis, 1972). Diffusion of the creation and production process further reduces a sense of personal accountability for the final product. Writers produce scripts, rewriters alter them, directors fill in the details of the scenarios, and editors have a part in how filmed events are depicted by what they select from the lengthy footage. If the original writers are offended by alterations of their scripts, they can use their registered pseudonyms to dissociate themselves from the product and spare themselves personal embarrassment. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 849 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Story and Morgenson (2011a) provide a detailed account of how widespread machinations caused the economic debacle without anyone’s feeling accountable for it. They cite William Black, a law professor who directed litigation during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. He called the existing atmosphere a “criminogenic environment.” He contrasted the vigorous litigation of the savings and loan transgressions with the lethargic federal response to the global economic catastrophe: “There were no criminal referrals from the regulators. No fraud working groups. No national task force. There has been no effective punishment of the elites here.” — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1556 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Fragmented production processes weaken individual accountability for harmful content — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 849; Creative workers stay morally disconnected by avoiding evidence of their work’s harm; Diffusion of blame across many actors erases individual accountability for collective harm — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1556 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Fragmented production processes weaken individual accountability for harmful content #corroborates (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 849
• Diffusion of blame across many actors erases individual accountability for collective harm #corroborates (0.92) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1556