Human behavior is difficult to control and it is difficult to explain. In this respect, the problem of human obedience is particularly difficult because some people are vulnerable to disobedience, while others readily obey, even though they have ample opportunities to act independently. Moreover, many offenses are not always committed by some outcasts, but, instead, ordinary people, under the impact of circumstance, can grow into aggressive offenders able to commit the most terrible acts. People cannot resist to the orders they receive but their psychology may change dramatically and they may act in an unusual and untypical way. The relationship of obedience and control could lead people to the commitment of offenses or crimes, which they would have never committed in normal circumstances, if they remained really independent from the authority or, if they could manage to disobey. In fact, obedience can hardly outgrow into socially dangerous disobedience, but it still can have negative effects, such as the risk of offenses and victimization.
Obedience is a normal state for humans. It is quite natural that there are leaders in the human community and there are masses of people that obey to leaders. Ideally human society should function without abuse of rights and freedom of other people. However, people can hardly avoid the offense of each other or limitation of one’s freedom and basic rights. In this respect, it is possible to mention the Holocaust in the period of the World War II, or more recent facts such as the Abu Graib prison scandal. In fact, some individuals commit acts which they would never commit in their normal life, but, in the changed circumstances, they behave really differently. Individuals’ behavior changes dramatically when they take part in a military conflict, or when they constantly deal with the limitations of freedom of other people, like in the case of prisons. In such a situation, obedience play an important role because during a wartime obedience of soldiers to their commanders should be unarguable, while military prisoners should be totally obedient to save their life and health. But such a total obedience can provoke growing aggression from the part of those who give orders and control the situation. This means that the behavior of people is changeable. Therefore, human obedience is also vulnerable to changes. The numerous experiments conducted by specialists working on the problem of social psychology, human behavior and, in particular, on the problem of obedience to authority, such as Behrens and Rosen (2002), have proved the fact that even people which are ‘normal’ in their life can behave differently in new, extreme circumstances.

In this respect, it is possible to remind the experiments conducted by Milgram or Zimbardo who actually tested the extent to which the authority can influence individuals and its consequences (Behrens and Rosen 2002). Basically, their research, even though its ethical aspects are widely argued, has revealed the fact that people tend to obey to the authority and it is basically abnormal if an individual rebels against the authority. In such a situation, it is really dangerous when people that are obedient by their nature have to fulfill commands which are actually criminal or next to criminal.

People are obedient because they are influenced by the authority due to its great role and the lack of the experience of the disobedient behavior. It is a historically accepted norm when society lives in accordance with the established rules and norms, which are regulated and often created by the authority. This is why individuals have to overcome a serious psychological barrier when they do not obey since this means that they need to rebel against the authority which personifies the society itself. Furthermore, an individual is susceptible to the acceptance of the social standards and norms. In fact, deviation from social standards and norms is interpreted by society as disobedience. For example, crime is a form of disobedience to the existing social order.

At the same time, it is necessary to take into consideration external factors which also affect the behavior and actions of an individual. For instance, the recent research concerning the problem of inadequate behavior of some of American soldiers in Iraq, conducted by such specialists as Szegedy-Maszac, reveals the fact that the violation of rights and simply inhuman behavior of some of the soldiers could be explained by the external pressure (Behrens and Rosen 2002). In fact, such a behavior is a response or, to put it more precisely, the consequence of the constant fear about personal safety, the transformation of violent behavior into a norm since soldiers simply get used to violence as a constituent part of their everyday life. Finally, Szegedy –Maszac indicates at the problem of the lack of sexual contact American soldiers were deprived of, though it could help them decrease their aggressiveness and be a sort of relaxation (Szegedy –Maszac, 2007).

Another factor that contributes considerably to the obedience of people is the intention to fulfill the orders of the authority simply to benefit from it or to feel comfortable because of the lack of conflicts with the authority. In this respect, it is possible to refer to Crispin Sortwell who argued that a potential executer of the most inhuman orders may be an ordinary individual (Behrens and Rosen 2002). To put it more precisely, the researcher defines several qualities which transform an ordinary individual, under certain conditions, such as war, into a ‘genocidal killer’. Among these qualities may be named the deference to authority, response to social consensus, willingness to response to people as members of social groups, and simply the desire to achieve security of their own life, health, family, friends, etc.

Thus, the obedience turns to be a really powerful tool which can potentially make ordinary people offenders as well as victims since the obedience to the authority may result either in the offense of other people or in the victimization, the latter is just a question of the place an individual occupies in the social group and current circumstances. In fact, in exceptional circumstances, such as a war or prison environment, obedience is particularly vulnerable to the development of negative effects, such as offenses and victimization.

References:

Asch, S. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193, 31-35.

Behrens L. and L.J. Rosen. (2002). An Anthology of Reading. New York: Random House.

Fromm, E. (2005). Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem. New York: Routledge.

Milgram, S. (December 1973). The perils of obedience. Harper Magazine, 62-77.

Szegedy-Maszak, M. (2007). The Abu Graib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism. New York: Random House, 226-231.

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