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Disobedience as a psychological and moral problem eric fromm
Importance of civil disobedience
Importance of civil disobedience
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Why Disobedience is necessary at times Obedience is just one of the few characteristics the average human being has and is essential in keeping our world in order. We display it amongst our peers, parents, bosses, teachers, professors, laws, pretty much anyone with authority over us. However, certain people of those categories may use obedience as a tool for bad intentions or their own needs at a cost. If people continue taking orders without giving a thought or care then it’s possible that they can be a threat to not only themselves but to others. Before we look at the necessary reasons for Disobedience, it’s essential to know why many people may have a hard time in committing the act. According to Stanley Milgram’s quote from his book The perils of Obedience, he defines obedience as a key aspect in the construction of social life that anyone can resort to. For some, obedience is an intensely fixed behavior which can cause them to overlook their sympathy (a feeling of concern) or morals (decisions and actions between right/wrong or good/bad). Another reason is Loyalty. People may already know what is right, wrong, good, and bad, but may choose to be obedient just as a way of upholding their faithfulness and honor towards another. And last, a person may be obedient just because they were threated, which leaves them no choice but to carry on the dreadful act. So in the display of these aspects, why is it important that people still practice disobedience? For one, it’s important because not everyone has good intentions. Obedience towards an authority figure with bad intentions isn’t a new aspect, but there’s also evidence of how an ordinary everyday person can be dangerous to others withou... ... middle of paper ... ...ant and uncooperative” (Stuart). Two witnesses who recorded the beating on their cellphone’s say they were approached by the officer’s minutes after the beating and demanded the cellphone’s. In the form of Civil disobedience, they initially did not give them the phones, claiming that they had no right to do so and that filming the cops is legal. The cops however, were hell bent in getting those phones in fear of the truth coming out. Exercising their authority, the officers held the witnesses illegally for 8 hours and soon obtained a permit which allowed them to take the witnesses phones. At that point, it was possible that the cops may have deleted the footage. This is an example of how people from the system use their authority at the wrong times to serve themselves. It’s our responsibility to rightfully stand up against rules and laws we feel are morally unjust.
In the research article “OBEY AT ANY COST”, Stanley Milgram conducted a study to examine the concept of obedience and composed disturbing findings. Milgram’s findings on obedience are considered one of the most influential and famous works in the history of psychology. His examination of obedience was that people were possibly capable of doing abuse to other individuals by being required to do so. Milgram pertained this to World War II and the inhumanity that has been bolstered and the barbarity. Yet, his hypothesis was that people have the propensity to obey is authoritative, which cancels out a person’s ability to act morally, sympathetically, or even ethically.
Obedience has always been a trait present in every aspect of society. Parents have practiced enforcing discipline in their homes where children learn obedience from age one. Instructors have found it difficult to teach a lesson unless their students submit to their authority. Even after the adolescent years, law enforcement officers and governmental officials have expected citizens to uphold the law and abide by the standards set in society. Few will understand, however, that although these requirements for obedience provide positive results for development, there are also dangers to enforcing this important trait. Obedience to authority can be either profitable or perilous depending on who the individual in command is. In the film, The Crucible,
“The Perils of Obedience” was written by Stanley Milgram in 1974. In the essay he describes his experiments on obedience to authority. I feel as though this is a great psychology essay and will be used in psychology 101 classes for generations to come. The essay describes how people are willing to do almost anything that they are told no matter how immoral the action is or how much pain it may cause.
Conformity explains how one responds to an expectation because you are adjusting your behavior or thinking to compare with a overall group standard, with the fear of being the odd one out. Lastly there is obedience which is where you change your judgements or opinions due to an authority figure telling you to do so, in respect of being out of line and in a need to follow rules and expectations of authority due to
Obedience is when you do something you have been asked or ordered to do by someone in authority. As little kids we are taught to follow the rules of authority, weather it is a positive or negative effect. Stanley Milgram, the author of “The perils of Obedience” writes his experiment about how people follow the direction of an authority figure, and how it could be a threat. On the other hand Diana Baumrind article “Review of Stanley Milgram’s experiments on obedience,” is about how Milgram’s experiment was inhumane and how it is not valid. While both authors address how people obey an authority figure, Milgram focuses more on how his experiment was successful while Baumrind seems more concerned more with how Milgram’s experiment was flawed and
Through my research and findings of obedience to authority this ancient dilemma is somewhat confusing but needs understanding. Problem with obedience to authority has raised a question to why people obey or disobey and if there are any right time to obey or not to obey. Through observation of many standpoints on obedience and disobedience to authority, and determined through detailed examination conducted by Milgram “The Perils Of Obedience,” Doris Lessing “Group Minds” and Shirley Jackson “The Lottery”. We have to examine this information in hopes of understanding or at least be able to draw our own theories that can be supported and proven on this subject.
Fromm, Erich. "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem." Writing and Reading for ACP Composition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Custom, 2009. 258-63. Print.
Obedience may be a simple word, yet it has a powerful impact on the daily lives of millions. Obedience is simply when one follows the orders or directions of another figure, presumably in an authoritative position. This is something nearly everyone bows to everyday without even realizing it - and it can drastically change our lives as we know it. Obedience is, for example, how the holocaust happened. The Germans were ordinary people turned into murderers because they followed the orders of one man - their dictator, Adolf Hitler. Of course, obedience does not always result in horrid results such as the holocaust or result in such a large catastrophe. Obedience can have drastic effects on the lives of only a few men as well; this is showcased in the movie A Few Good Men.
One of the greatest feelings in the world is going against the grain of society and the universal fear to be different than the rest. Whether you are sparked by your own fire, or someone else’s, breaking the status quo to be diverse enhances progress. Oscar Wilde once said, “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” This quote sparks interest due to disobedience often containing a negative connotation. However, in this quote disobedience is honorable, and to be called disobedient is a compliment. According to Wilde, disobedience is beneficial and without it, social progress could not be made. Without
Individuals often yield to conformity when they are forced to discard their individual freedom in order to benefit the larger group. Despite the fact that it is important to obey the authority, obeying the authority can sometimes be hazardous especially when morals and autonomous thought are suppressed to an extent that the other person is harmed. Obedience usually involves doing what a rule or a person tells you to but negative consequences can result from displaying obedience to authority for example; the people who obeyed the orders of Adolph Hitler ended up killing innocent people during the Holocaust. In the same way, Stanley Milgram noted in his article ‘Perils of Obedience’ of how individuals obeyed authority and neglected their conscience reflecting how this can be destructive in experiences of real life. On the contrary, Diana Baumrind pointed out in her article ‘Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience’ that the experiments were not valid hence useless.
Obedience is a widely debated topic today with many different standpoints from various brilliant psychologists. Studying obedience is still important today to attempt to understand why atrocities like the Holocaust or the My Lai Massacre happened so society can learn from them and not repeat history. There are many factors that contribute to obedience including situation and authority. The film A Few Good Men, through a military court case, shows how anyone can fall under the influence of authority and become completely obedient to conform to the roles that they have been assigned. A Few Good Men demonstrates how authority figures can control others and influence them into persuading them to perform a task considered immoral or unethical.
Milgram, S. (1965a). Some conditions of obedience and disobedience to authority. Human Relations, 18(1): 57-70.
People are raised to obey. They are taught to follow orders; they are punished if they don’t. They are shown the rewarding benefits, such as success, a well-paying job and happiness that come along with being loyal, almost sheeplike followers of the law-like structure that their parents, teachers and other superiors set for them. But people aren’t usually shown the consequences that can arise when obedience is taken too far. I mean, look at the character Ophelia in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” She tried to be as obedient as possible and that just drove her insane. But like long-bodied dogs trying to catch their short tails, people who know nothing other than the obedient ways of which they were raised by are often driven into the same state of madness that Ophelia entered. And like those poor dogs, overly obedient people usually aren’t capable of understanding why they are in such a state, so they can never leave it, or even realize that they are in it.
The concept of compliancy closely resembles the concept of conformity in the sense that individuals’ behaviors are adapted though the norms of their surrounding group. However, in comparison to obedience, compliancy is less as intense as obedience in which commands are given to an individual to perform behaviors and conform to beliefs by an authority figure. Compliance is more of
To come to understand why people act with deviant behavior, we must comprehend how society brings about the acceptance of basic norms. The “techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in a society” are called social control (Schaefer, 2009). As we respect and acknowledge these social norms we expect others to do so as well. Therefore, according to our behavior sanctions are carried out whether they are positive or negative. Conformity, which refers to “going along with peers, people of our own status who have no special right to direct our behavior” (Schaefer, 2009), is one way social control occurs in a group level which influence the way we act. On the other hand, obedience is the compliance with a higher authority, resulting in social control at a societal level. The sanctions used to promote these factors can be informal and formal social control. Informal social control can be very casual in enforcing social norms by using body language or other forms of discipline, however formal social control is carried out by authorized agents when desired behavior is not obtained by informal sancti...