Power (#5)

 

 

 The Milgram Experiment really BLEW my mind. The experiment was conducted to see whether or not people will follow directions given by an authority figure, even when the outcome can be bad (which is similar to the definition given by the textbook of Power:the ability to bring about an intended outcome, even when opposed by others). There was a professor/scientist who was in charge of the experiment and there would be some one administering some sort of test and there would be some one in another room sitting down hooked up to an electric chair and every time they got a question wrong, they would be shocked by a higher voltage of electricity. 9 out of the 12 people who were in the study, continued to the end and shocked some one with 450volts of electricity, knowing that that can kill some one, using the excuse that "the professor told me to do it", as justification. When later explained that there was no one really in the chair, and then was asked who's fault would it have been if there was fact some one sitting in the chair and that person died. One of the men in the experiment said that legally it would be the professor, but morally it would be his because he continued and he listened to the professor when the professor said to continue even though he knew it was wrong. One of the 3 people that actually stopped the experiment said he stopped because he was uncomfortable and it was wrong. All though, technically, he disobeyed the directions and the authority of the professor.

This is striking to me because thinking with a sociological perspective, I can see how this train of thought happens every where. In school, at work, at home, all of these places where are people who are "above" us because of their titles. If a teacher tells you to stand up, a student will stand up. If a police officer tells some one to stand with their hands on their head, a person will do it, because some one how they are more "powerful". But if a student tells another student to stand up, those two students will fight because in their eyes, they're "equal". But aren't we all equal?


I think that this video goes hand in hand with chapter 5 (Power)and I think that it is an example of how people with power have "power over" other people. In reality, we are all the same. But because the professor was a scientist, in the experiment room he had more "power" over the volunteer who was suppose to be exerting volts. It is also an example of how power can create conflict. There was conflict internally, in the minds of those 12 people, but only 3 of them had enough "power" to go against the authroity figure.


Five Faces of Oppression
In this article, written by Iris Young, she explains what oppression is and goes into a little deeper by stating that there are 5 types.