Double standard
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A double standard, according to the World Book Dictionary, is a standard applied more leniently to one group than to another. Double standards are seen as unjust because they violate a principle of justice known as impartiality. Impartiality is the principle that the same standards should be applied to all people, without regard to subjective bias or favoritism. A double standard violates this principle by holding different people to different standards.
While double standards are generally condemned in the abstract, they are also very common. Efforts to defend purported double standards usually take the form of denying that a double standard is being applied or attempting to give a good reason for the disparate treatment.
For example, children are generally forbidden from acts such as drinking and smoking while adults are permitted to perform such acts. This differential treatment could be described as a double standard because people are being held to different standards. However, one defending this differential treatment could argue that there is a good reason for the different treatment -- that children are inherently less capable of making mature decisions regarding those activities so they should be protected from risky and potentially harmful behavior. Supporters of this argument may also point out the fact that use of alcohol and tobacco at a young age can damage brain development. The counterargument would then be that children are not inherently less able to make good decisions, as there are some people who are more mature in their decision-making than other adults, so that age is an arbitrary criterion.
There is a subtle distinction to be made between double standards and hypocrisy. The latter implies the acceptance of a single standard but the disregard of it in practice. A man who believes that he has a right to have extra-marital affairs but his wife does not holds a double standard. A man who condemns all adultery while maintaining a mistress is a hypocrite.
Other examples of double standards
A common double standard is the prevalence of romantic partners by gender and ethnic group, often where one gender and race are paired with one another much more frequently. Accusations of "racism" or "sexism" can be argued to involve double standards in the United States, as it is widely perceived to be "OK" for African-Americans to use derogatory terms for Caucasians in public while Caucasians using derogatory terms for Non-Whites can cause significant backlash. It has also been argued that women can use offensive terms about men more readily that men can about women. Both of these alleged modern double standards arise from the reversal of pre-existing, more powerful, and accepted double standards of the opposite kind.
In the context of religion, many argue that accusations of blasphemy are an especially common example of double standards in that the very concept of blasphemy relies on applying or seeking to apply different standards to the theology seeking protection than to other matters.
The ancient Roman aphorism, Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi (Gods may do what cattle may not), captures the idea of the easier norms of behavior that the elite apply to themselves and the harsher norms of behavior they apply to the masses.
Specific political examples are harder to give because almost no one, whichever part of the political spectrum they are on, will admit to double standards, although all sides are quick to point fingers at the "liberal media" or "conservative media" (in the US) for giving a "pass" to one side of the political spectrum while virtually slandering the other. In the UK, this is less of a problem, as all newspapers are accepted to be biased and there is no move towards pretending otherwise. However, the BBC has been attacked throughout recent times for having a left-wing bias, and it is true that of the major newspapers, the majority tend to favour the Conservative Party.de:Doppelmoral es:Doble moral hu:Kettős mérce nl:Dubbele moraal ru:Политика двойных стандартов sv:Dubbelmoral