Jambon, M. M.,

From Digital Culture & Society

The article College students' moral evaluations of illegal music downloading by Marc Jambon and Judith Smetana (2012) studies the implications of illegal music downloading, and whether or not college students see illegal downloading as morally acceptable. The article explains different implications that illegal music downloading has on the music industry. The authors also discuss the reasons college students chose to illegally download music. The music industry continues to suffer as websites and applications allow for illegal music downloading. There are many sites that allow music to be illegally downloaded, and little to no implications to those who illegally download music. Results show that over 50 percent of college students illegally download music. The article is interested in why college students think it is acceptable to download music, and overall steal from the individual artist.

Authors Jambon and Smetana (2012) key arguments in this article are based around the assumption that those who illegally download music are considered less morally developed then others. They saw that illegal music downloading was significantly high among college students, therefore created a study that looked into the music industry and the reasoning behind illegal downloading. The author of the article states that despite the moral implications of illegal downloading, college students continue to download illegally. The article uses 188 college students to study if they have moral judgments when illegally downloading music. Social domain theory is used to understand the moral values of the students in this case.

Jambon and Smetana (2012) also argue that individuals who engage in bad behavior such as theft will have low ethical standards. This can also be the case in regards to illegal music downloading. College students may illegally download due to the fact they can save money. However, the act is still considered theft. Therefore, the authors argue that college students who download illegal music have low ethical standards, and are not interested with the ethics behind illegal downloading. They state that many college students hold negative views on the recording industry, this is because of the mistreatment of artists. Record labels take a large amount of money from their artists. So, because of this, college students will boycott record labels and illegally download music.

Jambon and Smetana (2012) state that through their research and social domain theory they can understand the moral judgements college students have of illegally downloading music. They argue that all college students will have some moral judgment issues. Especially, those who illegally download music. They also focus on those who illegally download music in spite of the music industry and their mistreatment of artists.

The article College students' moral evaluations of illegal music downloading by Marc Jambon and Judith Smetana (2012) has many strengths. They used a diverse sample of students, in a variety of different programs and clubs throughout the university. The sample also had a relatively equal amount of men and women. The students filled out a survey that was consistent with a variety of surveys based upon youth media consumption.

Some weakness within the article included, the students in the study were predominantly middle-class and all attending the same university. This could be an issue that affects the results of the survey due to lack of difference in class and social surroundings that the students had. Also, the study only focused on college students, when a large variety of age groups also illegally download music. Another issue that could have had an impact on the results is the study did not contain one-on-one interviews, this could have changed the results. Lastly, the authors of the article automatically assumed that college students who illegally downloaded music would have moral judgment issues. However, they did not consider the reasons why they may illegally download, and the remorse they may feel afterwards.

References

Jambon, M. M., & Smetana, J. G. (2012). College students' moral evaluations of illegal music downloading. Journal Of Applied Developmental Psychology