Social Key Question

Why do ordinary people commit genocide?

Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group. 

Examples:

• The Holocaust, Nazi-Germany controlled Europe between 1942 and 1945. Around 6,000,000 people were killed. Jews had to wear a Star of David on their arms and they were sent to ghettos/labour camps as well as concentration/death camps.
• Holodomor - Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, between 1932 and 1933.
• Genocide by Yazidis by ISIL - Northern Iraq and Syria, 2014 - present.

We care because we first want to understand why it occurred and to try and prevent it from happening again.

Agency Theory & Milgram's Original Study

• Soldiers could have shown moral strain, but could have still obeyed.
• The German Soldiers may have thought they couldn't disobey with an authority…