Final answer:
The view of ethics that suggests decisions should be based on existing norms of behavior, including cultural, community, or industry factors, is the Integrative Social Contracts Theory. The correct answer is option a.
Step-by-step explanation:
The ethical view suggesting that decisions should be based on existing norms of behavior, including cultural, community, or industry factors, is known as the Integrative Social Contracts Theory. This theory combines traditional contract theory with a recognition of community-specific norms and condones adopting the practices that are normatively valid within the community's or industry's microculture, as long as they do not violate the immutable norms of the larger, macroculture, similar to Normative Ethical Relativism.
For example, in a business context, a decision based on this theory would look to the industry standards and cultural expectations to decide what is ethically permissible. If a majority of companies in an industry refrain from using a particular controversial marketing tactic due to ethical concerns, then according to this theory, other companies should follow suit. This is because those industry standards serve as a sort of 'contract' guiding ethical behavior. However, extreme situations where industry standards might conflict with universal moral principles would lead to re-evaluating such norms in light of those higher principles. It is interesting to note that care ethics emphasizes relationship & context-specific decisions, whereas consequentialism would assess the act by its outcomes, which differs from Integrative Social Contracts Theory's emphasis on the normative validity within a culture or group. Which view of ethics suggests that decisions should be based on existing norms of behavior, including cultural, community, or industry factors? The answer is: a. Integrative Social Contracts.