The publication and mass appeal of Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness (Nudge), in 2008, illuminated behavioural economics, in the public and political domain. Nudging, a technique derived from behavioural economics, offers a fresh element to the long-time debate between paternalism and freedom, since proponents believe it can simultaneously preserve freedom of choice and serve as a means to influence behaviour. Unsurprisingly, in the decade or so since Nudge, private corporations and governments alike have shown great interest in the behavioural steering techniques derived from behavioural economics. This thesis explores the ethical implications and the various means by which governments and the private sector influence behaviour, specifically individual decision making. Since many of the methods overlap in purpose and practice, I make distinct three techniques: nudging, boosting and market advertising. These steering techniques range from transparent and educative to sub-conscious and manipulative methods; as such ethical justification for their employment varies. This thesis concludes by stating transparency as a condition for ethical behavioural influencing since non-transparent or covert methods do not uphold true freedom of choice, Furthermore, the implementation of non-transparent influences carries the potential for further violations of individual autonomy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-157746 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Whitehead, Eleanor |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för kultur och kommunikation |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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