Agency theory of Obedience

Agency theory of obedience

Stanley Milgram devloped a series of experiements to investigate obedience under, what he considered to be, conditions that could be used to explain the atrocities committed during the Nazi control of Germnay.

He conducted the experiemtns on 'normal' healthy participants to investigate whether they would yield to an authority figure and administer shocks to an innocent confederate of the study.

The result of his experiments Milgram concluded that we are all capable of complying to the demands of someone in authority, even if this means hurting another person.

Evolution of Obedience

Human society is hierachial in nature. This hieracial social organisation must have some stabilising function- to create social order and harmony within the group. Obedience within the family and education system nurture this preparedness through the process of soialisation.

Parents are primary socialisers and use a system of rewards and punishments to encourage obedience and discourage dissent in young children.

In the Educational and legal systems they have reward systems and perform a large role in ensuring that we develop as subordinates within our society.

Agency and Autonomy

Within the hierachial structure there must be a mechanism that ensures obedience . Milgram says that we exist in two different states

Autonomy                                  Agency

In an autonomous state a human acts according to their own free will. However, when given instructions from an authoritative person, they go into the agenetic state, where they see themselves as acting as an agent for the authority figure.

In the experiemnts, Milgram saw many participants in moral strain. This occurs when a person is asked to do…