Case in Point

Hotels across the world report guests taking away towels, bathrobes, slippers, cutlery, and even decorative items. Indian Railways, too, has frequently reported the theft of towels, bedsheets, blankets, and other onboard amenities. Many of those involved are neither poor nor deprived. These incidents remind us that unethical behaviour is not always born out of necessity. Sometimes, it is simply a failure of character, where personal entitlement overrides respect for public or shared property.

In an article titled Why do well-off people shoplift?, published by BBC News Magazine, psychologist Dr Will Cupchik, who has researched atypical theft among affluent individuals, described such behaviour as that of an “atypical theft offender.” In his words, “The last thing these wealthy people need is to steal.”

Abraham Maslow, the pioneering American psychologist, sought to explain through his Hierarchy of Needs that human motivation largely depends on the fulfilment of five levels of needs: physiological needs, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation. But where do such acts fit into this framework? Are they driven by need, by greed, or by something deeper, such as a distorted moral compass? The habit of hoarding fuels greed, and towels, bedsheets, and blankets are repeatedly stashed away without any sense of shame.

Abraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist who created Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. (wikimedia commons)

Ethical dilemma or Ethical blindness?

The next question we must ask is whether such people experience ethical dilemmas. The answer is, perhaps, no. An ethical dilemma presupposes the existence of ethical consciousness. When an individual sees nothing wrong in taking what does not belong to them, there is little or no moral conflict to resolve. Such unethical acts often begin with seemingly insignificant choices that gradually become habits. When someone decides to steal public property, the absence of ethical reflection itself becomes evident. Ethical decisions can be made only when an ethical dilemma is recognised.

An ethical dilemma arises when there is a conflict between two or more equally compelling values, and the moral agent must choose one over the other. Choosing one course of action inevitably involves compromising another value that the individual holds. Broadly, ethical theories are classified into three traditions: virtue ethics, which emphasises character; teleological ethics, which judges actions by their consequences; and deontological ethics, which focuses on duties and responsibilities.

Virtue, integrity, and the moral agent

In cases such as these, the first casualty is virtue itself. Once virtues are compromised, the individual also loses sight of both the goodness of intention and the goodness of outcomes. Low self-awareness combined with high self-interest leads to such shameful behaviour. Without adequate self-awareness, an individual thinks only of personal gain, with little regard for either the means employed or the consequences produced.

Such behaviour also raises important questions about integrity, probity, public trust, and civil responsibility.

1. Integrity is reflected in the consistency between one’s values and actions. It does not matter whether one is caught red-handed.

2. Probity here refers to honesty and uprightness in dealing with public resources.

3. Public trust is eroded when shared or public property is treated as one’s personal property.

4. Civic responsibility is measured not merely by obedience to the law but also by everyday conduct that respects common resources and the rights of others.

Aristotle placed great emphasis on the cultivation of good habits. According to him, we become just by performing just acts and virtuous by practising virtue. If our habits are flawed, the very foundation of an ethical mindset is weakened. Right habits nurture virtuous character, enabling us to uphold higher values. Ethics, therefore, acts as an investigative lens, helping us distinguish between right and wrong, and between good and bad.

So, what’s the message

Respecting public property is a reflection of character. It is important to remember that a society that ignores small ethical failures eventually pays the price through declining public trust. This, in turn, weakens moral standards and erodes integrity.

Ethical Reflection

Stealthily
You stole
the water
and
that oxygen too,
polluted the air
and
that medicine as well.
Will you steal
the sunlight too?
The trees, the green hue,
and the light?
Then what will be left
for us?
Birth?
You are powerful,
go ahead, steal
the darkness
and
death too.

(The writer is the author of ‘Being Good’, ‘Aaiye, Insaan Banaen’, ‘Kyon’ and ‘Ethikos: Stories Searching Happiness’. He teaches courses on and offers training in ethics, values and behaviour. He has been the expert/consultant to UPSC, SAARC countries, Civil services Academy, National Centre for Good Governance, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Competition Commission of India (CCI), National Judicial Academy, etc. He has PhD in two disciplines and has been a Doctoral Fellow in Gandhian Studies from ICSSR. His second PhD is from IIT Delhi on Ethical Decision Making among Indian Bureaucrats. He writes for the UPSC Ethics Simplified (concepts and caselets) fortnightly.)

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