Stanley Milgram

responsibility submission authority

“The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority.”

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

ordinary people agents destructive process morality authority

“Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.”

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

kind person situation act action

“It is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act.”

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

obedience person instrument responsibility

“The essence in obedience consists in the fact that a person comes to view himself as an instrument for carrying out another person's wishes and he therefore no longer regards himself as responsible for his actions.”

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

culture authority obedience human survival

“But the culture has failed, almost entirely, in inculcating internal controls on actions that have their origin in authority. For this reason, the latter constitutes a far greater danger to human survival.”

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

control interpret world behavior

“Control the manner in which a man interprets his world, and you have gone a long way toward controlling his behavior.”

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

propensity accept authority

“There is a propensity for people to accept definitions of action provided by legitimate authority”

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

tyranny perpetuate courage belief

“Tyrannies are perpetuated by diffident men who do not possess the courage to act out their beliefs.”

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

authority hierarchy obedience control

“Authority systems must be based on people arranged in a hierarchy. Thus the critical question in determining control is, Who is over whom? How much over is far less important than the visible presence of a ranked ordering.”

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

obedience command conscience authority

"A substantial proportion of people do what they are told to do, irrespective of the content of the act, and without pangs of conscience, so long as they perceive that the command comes from a legitimate authority."

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

few people resources resist authority

"Relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority."

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

ignore responsibility intermediate chain action obedience

"It is easy to ignore responsibility when one is only an intermediate link in a chain of action."

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

obedience mechanism action political purpose authority

"Obedience is the psychological mechanism that links individual action to political purpose. It is the dispositional cement that binds men to systems of authority."

― Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)