Blog #3: Me as Sociologist, Milgram & Elliott

1) I think my way of thinking about human behavior and our society falls under the perspective of symbolic interactionist. People are so strongly influenced by the world around them in ways they are aware of as well as in ways unknown to themselves. In evaluating their own actions, individuals take into consideration how their family, friends, and peers would evaluate these very same actions. Sometimes this sort of consideration is a conscious effort and sometimes it is absolutely unintentional or an unconscious decision. When I hear about all the crazy massacres and brutal murders in the media, I think to myself how each one seems to top the sickest one before it. Sometimes I wonder if people commit these acts simply to become a notorious figure in the American media. Peer pressure is a prime example of symbolic interactionist that I witness in my daily life as a high school student. Sometimes the decisions of teenagers do not reflect their own morals and beliefs but rather what they think will please others.

2) I think that the extent to which a person obeys authority is dependent on the individual. It was evident that some individuals in the experiment were feeling very distressed about what they were doing but swallowed down their nerves and guilt and continued to carry out the experiment. Simply because the authority was legal and willing to bear full responsibility if something happened, these individuals were willing to follow the orders given to them. This is a scary observation because I believe this fact applies to people in general. However, I also believe that there are those whose consciences are strong enough to give them courage to stand up to unethical authoritative demands. Some people are confident enough in themselves and firm enough in their own morals and beliefs to not only acknowledge when something is wrong but also to defy authority and refuse to obey.

3) I do not think Jane Elliott's experiment would be successful today. Most children--at least in the part of the country I live in--are well aware of how wrong racism and discrimination is. In addition, harassment, intimidation, and bullying are so pervasive in today's society and thus are strongly forbidden, so this type of experiment would not be permitted to be carried out at most schools today. Children would probably take the discrimination too far and do permanent psychological damage to each other. In order to teach and/or raise awareness about prejudice and bias, bullying and intimidation, recording devices could be attached to children's clothing or perhaps their backpacks. At the end of the school day they would be made aware of these devices and would be instructed to listen to all the things they said that day and see how much of their daily conversation falls under prejudice and bullying.