Evaluate Agency Theory (8 marks) Flashcards
Credibility and comparison / differences - Agency theory cannot explain Individual differences
Point: Agency theory cannot explain individual differences in obedience. i.e. why some people behave one way and others another way.
Example: The theory neglects the minority of the participants who did not obey Milgram → 35% did not go up to 450v.
Explain: Even though Milgram interviewed disobedient participants, and discovered common themes in their reasons for disobedience, agency theory does not reflect this.
Credibility and comparison / differences - Alternative theory is social impact theory
Point: Alternative theory is social impact theory
Example: Social Impact theory → which suggests that everyone applies Social Force to everyone else to get what they want. This is similar to Milgram’s idea of the Agentic State, because people find it hard to resist pressures to obey.
Explain: Both theories regard people as passive, doing whatever social pressure makes them do. However, Social Impact Theory ignores the importance ofmoral strain.
Credibility and comparison / differences - There are other theories that explain obedience
Point: There are other theories that explain obedience
Example: Theodor Adorno (1950)argues that some people have an “Authoritarian personality” that is threatened by people who are different and enjoys following rules.
Explain: This theory that suggests obedience to evil orders comes from a dysfunctional personality, not a social situation.
Evidence/ credibility
Point: Agency Theory also explains events like the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide and the ethnic cleansings in the Balkans in the ‘90s and in Syria today when these crimes are ordered by authority figures.
Example: → Meeus & Raaijmakers (1986)found similar results in liberal Holland to what Milgram found in 1960s America. However, this study used a less distressing punishment (insults, not electric shocks).
Explain: This suggests that genocide could happen anywhere. This makes it very important that countries developdemocratic institutionsin which authority figures are questioned and challenged.
Applications and Implications to society - The theory has real life application to explain obedience.
Point: The theory has real life application to explain obedience. → Accounts for soldiers in WW2 to follow orders without question.
Example: → Soldiers in WW2 saw themselves as agents for the person giving the orders, in this case Hitler. → Today, some American soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners are using it as their defence argument, claiming they were only obeying orders given by more senior staff.
Explain:It gives people in general a better idea of how obedience has a huge impact on everyday lives, showing that to be obedient is not always a good and moral action. As proved of the events of the holocaust. Overall, the agency theory is a good explanation of the states of the obedience of some people and may well come in useful in the future.
Applications and Implications to society - It is a plausible explanation of why people obey authority figures
Point: It is a plausible explanation of why people obey authority figures to the extent that atrocities are committed.
Example: For example, soliders in the My Lai Massacare obeyed orders to kill between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians in a Vietnamese village. → Lawerence concluded man Americans regarded Calley’s actions as ‘normal’ because he was following orders of an legitimate authority figure.
Explain: Shows that ordinary people can do horrible things under the influence of complex social forces and authority.
How good is the research?/ Objections - Moral strain
Point: Moral strainis one of the distinctive features of Agency Theory
Example: However it is a problem for the theory. In Milgram’s observational studies, moral strain was shown by the participants whoobeyed(weeping, groaning, shaking, fainting), not by the ones whodisobeyed.
Explain: Milgram’s theory suggests that the Agentic State is an escape from moral strain, but this is not what is observed in his studies.
How good is the research?/ Objections - Milgram’s research suffers from a lack ofecological validity
Point: Milgram’s research suffers from a lack ofecological validity
Example: → in real life teachers are not asked to electrocute students, nor were wartime Germans asked to do this by the Nazis. → Meeus & Raaijmakers (1986)replicated Milgram with insults instead of shocks; this is much more realistic but this study still put participants in an unusual position (making them pretend to interview people for a job and deliver insults that appeared on an overhead TV screen).
Explain: The artificial and unusual nature of the supporting research might count against the theory.
