>It seems pretty straightforward to me: in a society with many
>bureaucratic organizations, there are by definition many people in
>positions of authority over others. This means that conformity to
>obedience is necessary for our society to function, and people are
>effectively socialized into this basic social norm ("obey legitimate
>authority!"). --Thus the results of the Milgram studies.
OK, good point. Though I think society has evolved past the point where unquestioned obedience is a good thing.
>I have to admit I share Bill's suspicion about authority, and I try
>to challenge arbitrary decisions by authority figures whenever
>possible. However, we need to grapple with the fact that
>bureaucratic organizations are the life-blood of industrial
>societies, and without them we can't effectively sustain the
>educational system, scientific research, and government
>infrastructure that makes our industrial standard of living
>possible. --Simple thought experiment: what if all children didn't
>learn anything or do any homework because they wanted to "challenge
>the teacher's authority"? We'd just end up with a nation of
>illiterates!
Its impossible for children not to learn anything. I'll grant you that the obedience to authority is innate theory is a bit exaggerated, but the children are hard-wired to learn things theory is unassailable. Homework is another question. I never did any homework whatsoever during all my years at school. Not a stroke. I didn't finish up illiterate. It isn't that easy, teachers don't need authority in order for students to learn per se, that would happen with or without teachers. With or without schools for that matter.
However, authority is still necessary for other reasons. If for no other reason than that a lot of people in our society can't seem to live without it. Just as glove puppets need someone's hand to animate them.
Maybe its socialised, rather than in-bred. I'd certainly prefer to believe that. But that doesn't contradict the assertion that it is hard-wired. Our brains are wired as we develop from children to adulthood, so that implies that a lot of the influence is social. So far so good for your argument. Nevertheless, once it is wired a certain way, the human brain becomes fixed in its ways of thinking. In that sense at least, the patterns I'm talking about are hard-wired.
In any event, even if we do need some authority, the real problem is not deference to authority, but unquestioning obedience to authority. The latter is positively a hindrance to learning. Unless you are training a parrot. But we are talking about humans, whose brains are capable of much more than the tiny little brains of a parrot. They deserve a better educational system, don't you think?
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas