Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>I think you are confusing it with the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE),
>which recently was made into a German-made flick "Das Experiment" (a fairly
>accurate portrayal of the original Stanford study except the dramatic
>ending).
>
>The purpose of the SPE was to test the influence of the situational
>interaction on sadistic behavior in otherwise normal people. The purpose of
>Milgram's study was to test the effects of authority on engaging in behavior
>that by most ethical standards is blatantly wrong, but not necessarily
>sadistic.
>
No. I'm not. Milgram's setting was a "scientific" one. "Authority" was
represented by a "scientist" in a lab coat. The subjects were applying
electric shocks (or so they believed). I contend that if the tests had
been overseen by, say, buddhist priests and the punishment had been
deliverd with whips, the experiment would have had totally different
results.
I think Milgram abstracted unduly from that situation to talk about "authority." I take it to be an explicit and very clear example of the justification that "science" can provide for sadism.
Joanna
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