{"id":128,"date":"2017-04-24T15:27:17","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T19:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/?p=128"},"modified":"2017-04-24T16:46:51","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T20:46:51","slug":"the-mortality-of-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/2017\/04\/24\/the-mortality-of-authority\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mortality of Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span>A few days ago, I was sitting in my office when a co-worker came in.\u00a0 We began a conversation when he noticed a copy of Christopher Browning\u2019s Ordinary Men<\/i> sitting on my desk.\u00a0 He looked at the book, picked it up, and asked, \u201cWhat is this about?\u201d \u00a0For a moment, I found myself voiceless.\u00a0 I recalled every piece of information contained, and yet it was as if I could not formulate a narrative.\u00a0 After a brief moment or so, I found myself humbled with definition. \u00a0With silence I replied, \u201cmortality.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Browning\u2019s book is can be summarized by the title.\u00a0 It questions how ordinary men became such ruthless killers of war.\u00a0 Throughout this course, we have learned a great deal of information into the depths of behavioral psychology and trauma.\u00a0 In order to look to studies on behavior and authority, many scholars look to Stanley Milgram and Phillip Zimbardo and the experiments that they conducted.\u00a0 Milgram and Zimbaro\u2019s experiments have allowed us to see scientific approaches to human behavior and their compliance within authority.\u00a0 In summary, both these experiments reflect one single word, conformity.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Stanley Milgram\u2019s experiment demonstrated the human desire to conform to authority. In short, he tricked test subjects into pressing a button that they believed was causing another person pain.\u00a0 Even though they believed the person was suffering at their hands, they proceeded to press the button when told to do so.\u00a0 \u00a0Phillip Zimbardo\u2019s experiment at Stanford University demonstrated the human desire for authority.\u00a0 He placed college students into roles of prisoners and correctional officers.\u00a0 In a mock prison setting, Zimbardo filmed most of the interactions with the guards and inmates. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>While each experiment was vastly different, they are closely correlated. \u00a0Milgram demonstrated that once a person acquires a role or a position, they believe they must carry out what is expected of them.\u00a0 Even if they are being made to do something that has consequences. The same goes with Zimbardo\u2019s experiment of the prison guards. \u00a0This directly relates to Browning\u2019s understanding of the role of Reserve Battalion 101 during the Holocaust.\u00a0 Within the battalion, these men were trained to believe that they must follow orders at all costs.\u00a0 As Browning discusses, these men received detailed and clear instructions.\u00a0 The amount of structure provided a sense of purpose or mission to be achieved.\u00a0 \u201cMass killing on such a scale required planning and preparation\u201d (Browning, 1992:137). \u00a0It is important to note that the men of Battalion 101 did no go out and randomly commit acts of mass murder.\u00a0 This was a well thought out and successfully planned mission.\u00a0 \u00a0In order to achieve this result, a person must be made to separate themselves from their own person.\u00a0 They must identify themselves within their role, as an officer in this case.\u00a0 Forget everything they know about themselves.\u00a0 Every feeling, everything they have ever learned as a person and immerse themselves within their role.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Zimbardo\u2019s experiment is one of the most famous behavioral scientific studies.\u00a0 Although heavily scrutinized, It demonstrated how if you take perfectly normal human beings and provide them with roles, they are going to act within that role.\u00a0 He explained how a person carries out their mission.\u00a0 In his book, Browning discusses how the guards were classified within the experiment.\u00a0 In a sample of eleven guards, about one-third was classified as cruel and tough.\u00a0 They went above and beyond the mission in order to harass and enjoy their newfound power (Browning, 1992:168). The next group was classified as tough but fair.\u00a0 They played by the rules and carried out the mission as needed (Browning, 1992:168). The last and least populated category was those described as good guards, or those who chose not to punish the prisoners (Browning, 1992:168). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Browning goes on to compare Zimbardo\u2019s classifications within the ranks of Reserve Battalion 101.\u00a0 He describes the enthusiastic killers who went out of their way for murder, the next and larger group of those who simply did as they had to, and then those few who refused and attempted to evade (Browning, 1992:168).\u00a0 From Browning and Zimbardo\u2019s work, you see that the person identifies within the role and carries out the mission in direct reflection of their personality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>You have to respect what Zimbardo, Milgram, and Browning have done here.\u00a0 Within their own ways they have provided a scientific approach for human behavior within atrocity.\u00a0 \u00a0It is easy to reflect on actions of those from hundreds or even thousands of miles away, but when a person is indoctrinated with beliefs, or simply provided to perform within a certain role, how can they be judged?\u00a0 Is it fair to judge the actions of the prison guards any differently than those of Battalion 101? \u00a0\u00a0This area of study directly separates the human factor from argued learned behavior.\u00a0Is the person acting within their role or as themselves?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>What we see here and what I propose for discussion is why do you believe humans have a desire for authority?\u00a0 Why as people are we willing to lose ourselves or risk so much just to be able to have control?\u00a0 If this is the case, if this is fact, then do we really ever have control at all?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Browning, C. R. (1992). Ordinary Men. New York: Harper Perennial.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, I was sitting in my office when a co-worker came in.\u00a0 We began a conversation when he noticed a copy of Christopher Browning\u2019s Ordinary Men sitting on my desk.\u00a0 He looked at the book, picked it up, and asked, \u201cWhat is this about?\u201d \u00a0For a moment, I found myself voiceless.\u00a0 I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13236,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13236"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}