Milgram's Obedience to Authority was a fascinating, if not disturbing, read. One of my biggest complaints about conference papers is that the page limit puts a harsh constraint on the extent of detail that authors can provide about their experiment. With an entire book to fill, Milgram more than filled the pages and probably could have gone on for much longer. Like Norman, he clearly had a lot to say; however, Milgram actually avoided repeating details wherever possible. That meant that each page had a new detail about the failings of humanity when authority gets involved.
I was greatly concerned that humanity as a whole is so easily manipulated by a man in a lab coat stating that the experiment must continue at all costs. I started the book knowing that I was going to be alarmed by the results, but that didn't make the crushing knowledge that Milgram initially expected results like I did—with people stopping sooner than they did—any less painful. The whole time I kept thinking to myself that I wouldn't be like the people who were obedient, but the more I read, the more I considered that my morality might just fail as theirs did.
I was surprised that no one at all had realized that the shocking experiment was a sham. Surely someone had enough electrical cognizance to think that the hand plate would shock the person holding down the actor too. There was even an electrician who took part in the experiment and was taken in by the ruse. I don't even know how the huge numbers of people—from all backgrounds too—couldn't figure out that they weren't actually going to hurt someone.
The women who deluded herself into thinking that she was more reluctant to continue the experiment was fascinating. I didn't realize just how much memories could be manipulated to make it seem as though we are more benign that we actually act when presented with authority. I suspect that was the case with many of the people involved with the experiment. We are largely good people and something that lets us believe that we acted better than we really did gets considered as a possibility.
I appreciated that Milgram thoroughly considered possible factors that could affect our willingness to comply with authority. The study on conflicting authorities was a relief to read, since it suggested that people make the right decision when presented with an apparent moral quandary. On the other hand, the fact that we readily follow in with other people bothered me. The nature tendency is to do what everyone else wants us to do, even if that is utterly wrong.
The discussion on the importance of obedience in the creation of society provided some explanation of why it is our nature to obey. While I do have to agree that obedience and hierarchy form a good society, these can be corrupted to serve any extremely detrimental cause. Perhaps we as a whole need to rebel against our natural tendencies whenever we feel that something is wrong, since internal morality so frequently tends to be in line with what it should be.
I had expected the book to be considerably more dull than it actually was. This is due at least in part to Milgram, though a large portion of it was because of the interesting nature of the material. Milgram's writing is almost understated; he allows the content to be the predominant focus, not flowery prose. His matter-of-a-fact tone makes it seem as though he means to discuss the most boring topic on earth, which simply makes the material that much more intriguing since he is talking about something that cannot be considered mundane in any sense.
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