Sanctioned Massacres Nazi “Mobile Killing Units” MyLai Rwanda? Iraqi militias? Abu Gharaib?

Einsatzgruppen “Mobile Killing Units”

My Lai

MY LAI MASSACRE: MARCH 16, 1968

Lt. Calley Sentenced to life in prison; released in 1974

Hugh Thompson

Prisoner Abuse / Torture Stanford Prison Experiment Abu Ghraib

Sanctioned Massacres H. Kelman Authorization Routinization + De-individuation of actor De-humanization of victims

Sanctioned Massacres 1. Authorization:authority situation –relieves individual of moral responsibility –calls into play morality of loyalty & duty 2. Routinization:role in organization –task becomes a job –violence broken into tasks –language of euphamisms

Sanctioned Massacres 2a. De-individuation of the actor –individual takes on identity of organization –de-emphasize personal characteristics 3. De-humanization of the victims –victims given group identity –victims portrayed as non-human –Deprived of membership in common human group

Sanctioned Massacres Killers & torturers can be made Tearing-down & re-construction of identity –separation –“liminal” phase of instruction, rehearsal & testing –return in new status

Obedience / Compliance: Building a Theory

Milgram’s Theory Force fields Subject switches state “autonomous”  “agentic” conscience “inhibited” in agentic state

P. Zimbardo The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

Zimbardo: Prisoner Responses Loss of personal identity –“Deindividuation” Learned helplessness  Power of role: suspends conscience undermines identity

Zimbardo: Guard Responses Deindividuation “Mardi Gras” effect (disorientation, unreality of situation) Role Authorities sanction abuse  Character transformation

Zimbardo: “Transformation of Character” System: Bush Cheney Rumsfield Sanchez M.I. Situation & Roles: deindividuation ambiguous roles night shift Graner England Frederick Darby

Nazi Doctors Robert J. Lifton Doubling: Doctors create “Auschwitz self” Shift between two selves

Doubling: Tree Analogy Schizophrenia: split trunk Multiple personality: split main branches “Doubling”: split distant branches

Effects of obedience / conformity ? State  Role  Self

Functions of the Executive Chester Barnard, 1938 Two “modes” of viewing & treating others: 1) outside of organizations, people can act as unique individuals 2) as member of organizations, people are “depersonalized,” and “regarded in their purely functional aspects, as phases of cooperation.”

Functions of the Executive Chester Barnard, 1938 “Every participant in an organization may be regarded as having a dual personality -- an organization personality and an individual personality.”

Functions of the Executive Chester Barnard, 1938 At lower levels in the hierarchy organi- zations create a “zone of indifference” … “Within which orders are acceptable without conscious questioning of their authority.” “Makes it possible normally to treat a personal question impersonally.”

Functions of the Executive Chester Barnard, 1938 Higher levels in hierarchy requires creation of 2 nd personality -- “organizational personality” -- aligned with goals of organization: “Most executive decisions appear in the guise of technical decisions, and their moral aspects are not consciously appreciated. An executive may make many important decisions without reference to any sense of personal interest or of morality.”

States  Selves Milgram:45 min.state change Zimbardo:6 daysrole/identity change monthcharacter change Lifton:monthsdouble self  State develops via role into self ??