Is power something we are born feeling entitled with, or something that we are taught that we are entitled to?
I have heard of the Stanford prison experiment before, and it still amazes me. I can not picture myself in any circumstance really forgetting who I am and taking a role that seriously. I almost wonder exactly what the psychologist was looking to find when putting on this experiment.
In society we have been taught that someone in a uniform is of higher power. This person has control, and tends to be something that is feared. I believe this subject was chosen for this class because it does not only relate to a jail cell, but to any subject that feels the right to power. On the same level, when a white person is born, do they automatically feel as though they should have more authority than others? Does a Caucasian baby crawl around the African American babies feeling entitled? No, this sense of dominance comes along with their own uniform, the uniform of white skin, and the language that is constructed overtime of what that color of skin stands for in society.
At one point in the video they discuss the boundary between reality and make believe. As a society, a uniform would mean nothing to us if we did not create it as something. It is something that is learned and passed down, and within that a meaning is created. The Stanford prison experiment actually quite frightens me, not exactly because of how irrationally the participants acted, but how strong of a meaning, simple things, like a title, or a uniform have taken in our society.
I find it frightening as well, because the people so quickly conformed to the limited roles given to them of prisoners and guards. Further, the prisoners that tried to rebel were scorned, as were the guards that tried to be less severe. People seemed to identify with the power system, though there were exceptions. The experiment provides a nice lens through which to view race, gender and the social arrangements within a white-supremacist, capitalist patriarchy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Joanie. People associate power with what the collective thinks it to be. Every person went into the experiment know it was just that. However, the uniform transformed the "guards" into real authority figures. It does scare me too because of exactly what you said. Many people lost who they really were, and that is reason for concern. In the case of the guards, the uniform changed pretty much everything about them. However, a possibly more scary thing is that the professor conducting the experiment seemed to loose who he actually was a little bit too.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post. I too couldn't picture myself changing that drastically all because of an experiment, and I was suprised that people became such a part of their roles but maybe it would be different if I was there.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked what you said about the "sense of dominance comes along with their own uniform, the uniform of white skin, and the language that is constructed overtime of what that color of skin stands for in society". I think the Standford Experiment shows that people feel entitled because they have been taught to beleive that they are because we certainly weren't born that way.
The most powerful parts of the study that I took away were the guard saying in the 2-month post study interview, "I didn't think it was harmful. I was degrading but not harmful." and in that exact moment he is sitting beside one of the inmates who is leaning away from him in an almost childlike scared position. TWO MONTHS LATER!!!
ReplyDeleteMy only response to the comments here is that it wasn't just the uniform that transformed the men into guards. The whole situation turn that experiment into a reality. The inmates were active participants in the oppression just as much as the guards.
I agree with you that uniform gave the sense of power to the guards and also the dress for the prisoners gave them the sense of being oppressed ones.Most of them also acted accordingly to the title given to them and lost their roles outside that environment. It clearly indicates that most of the times institute plays a very big role in shaping humans behavior.
ReplyDeleteYes the uniforms definitely influenced and empowered or degraded the participants. One very interesting detail I noticed that was talked about was the reflective sunglasses. This allowed the guards eyes to be invisible to the prisoners, which I feel helped the guards to act so harshly, as well as lose their identity and values.
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