Obedience to Authority

The presence of an authoritative figure is present in nearly even human being’s life; along with this, is the expectation of obedience to that authority. Through this obedience, many great things have been accomplished, as well as many instances of cruel and immoral acts. Defiance of the established authority, though, has also lead to great things, such as the creation and founding of the United States of America. In his writing, Obedience to Authority, Stanley Milgram examines the obedience to authority without questioning or taking responsibility and the problems that lie in it. Going deeper into that problem, one should examine what, in society, is conditioning people to obey an authority, even when they do not believe in what they are doing.

To begin, it is best to start at the beginning of a person’s life itself: childhood. It is here where the foundation for “conditioning to obey” is laid into the developing child’s brain. Children are taught that they must obey their parents, even if they do not like or agree with what they are told. Most often, these are simple things like cleaning their room, showering and brushing their teeth every day, eating their vegetables, and going to school. A child probably will not want to clean their room, nor will they be given a satisfactory reason as to why they should; yet they still must do this, in a way, against their will. While parents are trying to establish certain values and habits in their children, they are also teaching them that, when an authority tells them to jump, that the appropriate response is “How high?” and not “Why?”

It is also here, in childhood, and even more so in adolescence, where they begin to experiment with defiance of the authority. As they become more a...

... middle of paper ...

...t and will defy your rule. The relationship between authority and obedience is an integral fiber of our society; to teach children that it is acceptable to defy authority only if it is wrong would weaken that fiber because it is also teaching them that defiance is not always bad.

In conclusion, it seems that the model of modern society itself teaches and demands the obedience of authority, regardless of whether the individual agrees with it. The obedience to authority is the foundation for modern society, and is itself flawed and open to abuse. However, one cannot fix the flaw without compromising the entire idea of obedience. Stanley Milgram reached a similar conclusion at the end of the reading: “The problem of obedience, therefore, is no wholly psychological. The form and shape of society and the way it is developing have too much to do with it,” [Milgram 29].