Abstract：Institutional Moral Education Theory (IMET) has three theoretical sources， namely historical materialism， (limited) institutional determinism， and neo-institutionalism. What they have in common is the emphasis on the understanding of the human nature and essence from the perspective of social relations and institutional structures. Multidisciplinary empirical studies have shown that institutions not only have their own “thinking”， and make important decisions on our behalf， but also determine our thinking habits， make us form institutionalized thinking， influence and change our behavioral habits. Institutions can not only make good people bad， but also bad people good. Institutions influence and even determine human (moral) behavior through the mediation of institutional situations. The practice of institutional moral education theory in the new era can be summarized as that socialist democracy is the best institutional moral education. It requires schools to develop students' moral-democratic competence， improve their moral judgment and reasoning competence through the method of “discussing moral dilemmas”， teach students with a democratic and rational approach， and build schools into democratic communities through the approach of “establishing just community”. Democracy is one of the core socialist values. In the new era， promoting and practicing democracy is an important topic of school moral education， to which the institutional moral education theory can contribute its own strength.
杜时忠. 制度德育论的理论来源、实证依据与实践方式[J]. 华中师范大学学报（人文社会科学版）, 2023, 62(3): 160-169.
Du Shizhong. The Theoretical Sources， Empirical Grounds and Practical Approaches of Institutional Moral Education Theory. journal1, 2023, 62(3): 160-169.
2023, Vol. 62 
