The Emergence of Milgram's Bureaucratic Machine

Dados Bibliográficos

ID10220045
AutoresNestar Russell (0000-0001-9150-1684, Nipissing University, autor correspondente)
Ano2014
Volume70
Fascículo3
Páginas409-423
Data de publicação2014-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Social Issues (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-4537 • E-ISSN: 1540-4560
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/josi.12068
OpenAlexW1858888420
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas13
Referências citadas17

Based on documents from Yale University, this article advances new sociological insights on Milgram's experiments, which bolster and extend Russell and Gregory's largely psychological explanation. From behind‐the‐scenes, Milgram's experiments are viewed as an ideologically driven, inherently coercive, and goal‐orientated bureaucratic process. The individual links within this organisational chain included Milgram (project manager), Yale University (institutional support), the National Science Foundation (funding), Milgram's research team (the actors), ending with the final link, the “shock”‐inflicting participants. Analysis illustrates how the division of labour inherent within this bureaucratic process facilitated Milgram's high completion rates because when highly stressed participants inflicted the most intense shocks, every link in the chain had the opportunity to displace or diffuse personal responsibility for their actually or, for the participants, seemingly harmful contributions. This analysis is consistent with Durkheim's insistence that to better understand the behavior of individuals, the social—and therefore sociological—context must also be considered

Bureaucracy · Conformity · Context (archaeology · Criminology · Ideology · Milgram experiment · Obedience · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Law · Psychology · Psychology of Social Influence · Social Psychology