The value of virtue signalling

Terminology alert: “Virtue signalling” is a phrase which here means “demonstrations that you hold values or behave in ways that people should approve of”

“Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds” - Matthew 5:16

“Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them” - Matthew 6:1

Virtue signalling gets a bad reputation. It’s easy to look around cynically and have a view like “the people on Facebook who are posting about how black lives matter are doing that mostly to show off to their friends that they are good people, not because they really care about black lives.”

I think this is sometimes a fair critique. But virtue signaling can also be useful because it helps set communal norms. Speaking out about your values and talking about the good things that you do is good if it inspires others to be better, but is reduced to “mere virtue signaling” if all it accomplishes is convincing others that you are a good person.

So when discussing honorable views that we have or actions we’ve taken, we want to make sure we’re helping to change people’s minds, and not just yelling about how good we are. I think there are two criteria that together make virtue signalling valuable from a norm-setting perspective:

  1. The view you are signalling is at least somewhat contentious in your community. Sending out signals like, “people shouldn’t use racial slurs”, or “police shouldn’t kill people in custody”, or “I once had the opportunity to steal this thing but then I didn’t” is not useful. Nearly everyone agrees that explicit racism, police killings, and theft are bad, so by signalling your agreement you aren’t changing anyone’s mind, just demonstrating that you eat the recommended daily dose of moral fiber.

    And this contentiousness is context-specific. The extent to which signalling “I think people ought to do something about climate change” is useful from a norm-setting perspective depends on whether the people around you already think it’s obvious that we should do something about climate change. If they all agree, then it’s useful. If they don’t, it’s not. 

    Similarly, “I think de jure racial segregation is wrong” would have been a useful thing to signal in 1940s America, when this was not the prevailing view. But if you said that now, people would do things like roll their eyes, or call you names like “Sherlock,” or suspect that you might have some pretty alarming views if you think that the evil of government-supported explicit segregation needs to be stated as if it’s up for discussion.

  2. You seek the ear of those who don’t already agree with you rather than the approbation of those who do. This means understanding where the people within range of your signal are coming from, and framing your view in a way that will make sense to those who don’t already agree with you. 

    If I were to tell people “I wear a mask in public because I believe in science and am not selfish”, I won’t convince anyone to wear a mask who is not already inclined to do so. All I’m doing is showing to the people that agree with me that I’m a good person. Posting political memes that make me and my friends laugh at the stupidity/lack of moral fiber/sheep-like following of those who disagree with us doesn’t do anything to set better communal norms.

    (Note that while as a speaker you should always try to frame your views in a manner that your interlocutors will be receptive to, as a listener you should not disregard an argument because you don’t like the way it’s presented. Hold yourself to a higher standard than others, both as a speaker and a listener)

There’s certainly a lot of non-useful virtue signalling out there. But what looks like virtue signalling may actually just be an expression of values in a good-faith attempt to change people’s views or make them consider perspectives that they wouldn’t have otherwise. We often go along with the crowd and do things that are wrong. Let’s speak up in the few instances where we’re able to do what’s right, so that we might inspire others to do the same.