moraaliaan

Moraaliaan is a term used in Dutch-language ethics and cultural studies to describe a mode of discourse that foregrounds morality in social judgments. In practice, moraaliaan can denote both a personal stance—a tendency to moralize—and a methodological lens used to analyze how moral claims are constructed and communicated in public life.

The word combines moraal (morality) with the suffix -iaan, which forms adjectives or nouns indicating affiliation or characteristic. It is a neologism that has appeared in scholarly and media commentary in the 21st century, though it remains relatively uncommon.

In analysis, moraaliaan is used to examine moralizing rhetoric in politics, media, and online communities, focusing on how moral criteria are invoked, who benefits, and what norms are promoted. The term often carries a critical tone, pointing to performativity, bias, or strategic signaling rather than to moral truth claims alone.

Related terms include moralization, moral rhetoric, virtue signaling, and moral panic. Moraaliaan is typically used descriptively to characterize discourse rather than to prescribe normative judgments. See also morality; ethics; moral rhetoric; virtue signaling.