"...I think that we should be men first and subjects afterward, the only obligation which I have a right to assume, is to do at any time what I think to be right...." Henry David Thoreau 'civil disobedience'...
This is a sentiment that is all but lost on the majority of people today.
Conformity at the price of personal integrity.
People - Or a person rather - uses their conscience and learned values to evaluate the morality of an action.
BUT, that being said, when it comes to the things demanded of them by their governments - unquestioned obedience with very little thought as to the 'right' or 'wrong'of the action is the norm .
A person suddenly becomes unthinking, just doing.
A drone.
What is the psychology of obedience ?
Why do people obey those in power even if it means committing actions that in any other situation they would view as
immoral?
The opposite of obedience is disobedience - the minority view - and this acts as crucial counter force (such as to the rise of any oppressive governments).
Obedience can be defined as...
" ...performing an action - not because of a personal desire or motive - but because one is commanded to do so by someone in a position of perceived authority".
Obedience can be an extremely beneficial trait in certain circumstances.
The relationship between a child and parent for example,
or in the adherence to laws which prevent aggressive actions to others , such as assault, theft, murder.
However, obedience can often result in the most brutal of outcomes.
The most cursory glance at history would convince anyone that the individual crimes committed for selfish motives - crimes of passion, or even cold blooded murder -play an insignificant role in comparison to the numbers massacred in unselfish loyalty to one's tribe, or nation.
To put into it into some kind of context - In the UK, in 2017 - 12 months period - there were 732 homicides - in a population of around 65 million
In World War II - 5 years - An estimated total of 70–85 MILLION people died, (about 3% of the 1940 world population).
3% of the UK population would be approximately 200,000 deaths - or 40,000 deaths per year - not 732.
The sad fact of history suggests that humans have a strong
tendency to obey those in positions of power. (hierarchy).
Freud recognized this phenomena, stating that we should never
underestimate the power of the need to obey.
This need to obey is instinctual.
It stretches deep into our evolutionary past when many of the
ancestors of Homo sapiens organized themselves according to ranking systems.
Or what are called dominance hierarchies.
Survival of the individual (within a dominance hierarchy) requires the ability to make distinctions between ranks, social or military.
This means a recognition of the permitted and forbidden actions based on 'rank'.
Not understanding these dynamics within the group can lead to failure - and even death.
Being cast out from 'the group' makes it less likely to
survive and pass on their genes.
Ergo, conformity can be seen as a successful genetic marker down through the ages.
The influence and success of dominance hierarchies in our evolutionary history, can help to explain the human tendency to obey.
It does not fully explain why people will obey - even when the actions demanded of them are immoral - or even at to the detriment of 'the self'.
Looking back at the brutal reign of Stalin in Russia or the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia...
Those who lived during these times remained obedient to the point of committing the most brutal of actions ( murder
and torture of completely innocent people, en mass) .
It's easy to attribute it simply to 'fear of the tyranny'.
While this may be true to a degree - fear alone
does not account for the fact that many people do not even recognize - or acknowledge - the injustice of their own government even when they are living under tyranny.
Hideous crimes then become acts of loyalty.
Patriotism and duty allows for 'the means justifies the ends'.
Cognitive biases can account for this inability to
recognize the injustice of one's own
government.
Cognitive biases are patterns of deviation from rationality in judgment.
One of the most prevalent of these biases is the psychological
phenomenon, known as cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, and is typically experienced as psychological stress when they participate in an action that goes against one or more of them.
A person who experiences internal inconsistency tends to become psychologically uncomfortable and is motivated to reduce the cognitive dissonance.
When our behavior or other actions appear to conflict with our self-image , we then tend to alter our beliefs or reactions to reduce the dissonance.
For example -A person who sees himself as compassionate and then finds himself inflicting pain on others, will experience cognitive dissonance. He might reduce this dissonance by ceasing to inflict pain. OR, he might adopting new beliefs to
explain why a compassionate person may inflict pain.
The existence of an oppressive government produces many situations where dissonance can arise as people are
frequently required to take actions which conflict with their personal beliefs of right and wrong.
(you can see this in action right now - all over the world- with covid-19. A compliance to mask wearing, which goes against all logic and facts).
Self images of themselves (as good people) is a common trigger for this dissonance, such as the requirement to pay taxes to fund government activities which involve things that one views as unethical.(foreign wars, for oil).
...Or the paying for the mass surveillance of one's own citizenry.
Paying taxes with the knowledge that this money is being
used to fund programs and activitieswhich one sees as immoral can generate a cognitive dissonance, so to deal with this
dissonance , some people will change their beliefs
regarding the necessity of a centralized authority .
A more common way to quell this dissonance is to adopt justifications to excuse these government actions - or to avoid sources of information which trigger the awareness.
(some people actively stay away from understanding whats going on with their own governments - , and then justify this 'turning a blind eye' with various 'reasons').
The immorality stemming from their own governments (paid for by themselves), creates a cognitive dissonance that is unbearable.
So they avoid confronting that reality.
Another psychological bias which explains the human
willingness to obey even a tyrannical government, is the status quo bias.
This is the powerful tendency to see the beliefs of one's own society as true. That the practices of one's own society as obviously 'right' and 'good'.
The powerful drive to conform (with heavy doses of indoctrination in education systems to reinforce it) promote the status quo bias.
Because government is a prominent and fundamental feature of the structure of our society, people tend to have a powerful bias in favor of the existing paradigm.
Thus, many people unquestioningly obey government commands no matter how oppressive or tyrannical they become. (e.g covid-19 dictats like social distancing and restrictions on free movement).
What promotes the likelihood of disobedience in response to tyranny?
People will not refuse to commit immoral acts unless they overcome the cognitive biases which promote unquestioned obedience.
Self education - and ridding oneself of the false beliefs that result from the years of indoctrination in our education systems, (and refuting propaganda) is crucial.
Only then can we loosen the grip of ideologies.
If we use our own conscience to evaluate the 'right' or 'wrong' of an action we are more likely to disobey the tyranny. (group psychology changes the individuals perception of their own autonomy - I'll do a post on that, separately).
If people- en mass, lose confidence in the capability of their rulers it makes it increasingly difficult for people to place any faith in these institutions.
This is happening now, globally - as people are beginning to realize that centralized governments are not 'fit for purpose' in such a complex system. The sheer ineptitude of politicians and bureaucracies creates this shift in perspectives.
Something which also impacts disobedience relates directly to the degree of surveillance in a society.
Mass surveillance greatly diminishes the likelihood of disobedience.
It creates a situation similar to that faced by a devout religious believer. One who censors his own thoughts and behaviors due to the 'all-seeing eye' of God.
God is omniscient and omnipotent (much like the self image of the malignant narcissist). If 'believers' of the state can be
made to believe that their God (the state) can see into their minds and hearts at all times - surveillance - and the slightest expression of any disloyalty will be noticed - they may well be persuaded to change their thinking and then
will become internally and externally ,more compliant.
The chief obstacle in the way of command hierarchies is the
human power to lie, and pretend to assimilate.
People who have the ability to pretend, while plotting disobedience, are serious threats to the security of any power
structure.
If people can be persuaded that their efforts to 'lie and pretend' are rendered pointless by some' all-seeing
eye', obedience is assured.
Societies which accept the need for mass surveillance (732 murders in a population of 65 MILLION) or who allow it to spread through non-action and compliance will be societies that become increasingly unable to resist a tyranny.
The 'boiling frog phenomena' is clearly apparent in this regards.
More surveillance, begets more tyranny - think of the UK, Ireland, Australia, right now...
Modern technology has created surveillance capabilities that dictators such as Hitler and Stalin could only dream of.
These technologies create a prison of the mind.
When one perceives that one's life is being constantly monitored, behaviors - and thoughts - change.
They will make for thoughts and behaviors that favor compliance and conformity.
DISOBEDIENCE
The tendency to obey is a prominent feature of man.
However, there are always a brave, renegade, few - who in the face of corrupt power are willing to stand up and refuse compliance.
Those with the courage to do so, are not only protectors of
freedom but are the very individuals who move a society forwards.
Acts of disobedience make man evolve , change, create new paradigms.
Men who've dared to say 'no' to 'the powers that be' are the same people who the establishment continually try to muzzle - to maintain, and continue , the status quo.
Societal development is dependent on the capacity for being disobedient.
Nonconformity in the world makes you, automatically, the whipping boy.
The non conformist will always be in the monitory.
The 'whipping of nonconformists' has now been made
possible with the emergence of social media to an extent never seen before.
Mass communication technologies means that conformity
once enforced locally by members of one's community - is online, through social networks with people from all over the
world.
They can ostracize and try to shame and ridicule those who fail to hold similar beliefs, or display conformity.
The ability to enforce conformity this way comes at a price, though.
It is the nonconformist who brings forth the new ideas, creations, and ways of living which produce a vibrant
societies.
The new technologies have allowed for this environment to happen like never before.
Conformity deaden's the human spirit.
You're supposed to believe everything that you hear on TV because if they have enough money to buy that advertising space it must be the truth...
lol - must do as you're told....consume...
Right!!!!