Milgram's Obedience: The Outside Environment Of Church And The Church

Members believe that to hear God’s word, they must attend church, and listen to their priests.

In Stanley Milgram’s ‘The Perils of Obedience’, Milgram reports from his studies of how far an individual can go in obedience to instructions and he pointed out that individuals can go as far as causing serious harm to the other people. Basically, the experiments are meant to test the choice that an individual would make when faced with the conflict of choosing between obedience to authority and obedience to one’s conscience. From the tests, it was found out that a number of people would go against their own conscience of choosing between what is wrong and what is right so as to please the individual in authority (Milgram 317). However, the experiments conducted by Milgram caused a wide range of controversy for instance; according to Diana Baumrind, the experiments were immoral. Baumrind notes in ‘Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience’ that Milgram did not only entrap his subjects, but he also potentially caused harm to his subjects (Baumrind 329). Based on the arguments that have been presented by the two authors, it is apparent that the two authors are concerned with real life situations, authority and ethics but the difference is that they both view these perspectives from different points of view as indicated by their writings. By and large, they also tend to show the importance or the insignificance of the experiments.

Church a place many people go on Sunday mornings. A place to worship in the Lord and Savior or whichever God the individual believes in. Some individuals believe that church can only be held in the church building. When in reality it can be held anywhere for example the bedroom or a field. A thing that has been noticed is there are many types of people who go that fit in with a certain group. The types include everyone from the screaming child to the strict churchgoers and everything in between. Church may be a good place to go but it is believed that the churches today are corrupt.

The word power is a term that has various different meanings philosophically, socially, religiously, etc., which is why it is crucial to define it before discussing the Boston Catholic Church’s power. Power is defined in various ways, but the definition that is utilized in this essay is when “an individual or institution [has] the ability to achieve something, whether by right or by control or influence. [It] is the ability to mobilize economic, social, or political forces in order to achieve a result.” It is also important to understand power in the terms of effect and affect. Some may argue that in order for something to have power, the institution or person must have the ability to both effect and affect, affect meaning to have an

Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis emphasizes the two overarching principles that govern the practice of church and mission, that is: Being gospel centered and being community centered, where the content of our message is the gospel, and the context of our message the Christian community. Only when those principles are put into practice does the Word is carried away, with the mission of the church being carried out and the mission of the church of making relationships a priority is carried out.

The concept of leadership by authority is when a focus of power is with the manager. People tend to follow people who are seen as powerful. The manager will make the decisions, oversee policies and procedures for achieving goals, work tasks, control of rewards or hand out the punishments.

Max Weber identified three classifications of authority: traditional, charismatic and legal-rational authority. Traditional authority is based on traditional customs and values, such as a monarchy. Charismatic authority is based on one's personal traits and likeability. Legal-rational authority is based on the office one holds, such as that of the Prime Minister of Canada (as cited in Garner, Ferdinand, Lawson & MacDonald, 2009). Understanding Weber's classifications of authority will be beneficial when analysing how Trudeaumania proved to be advantageous for Pierre Trudeau in his quest for political power.

In his article, Milgram discusses how “for many people, obedience is a deeply ingrained behavior tendency, indeed a potent impulse overriding training in ethics, sympathy, and moral conduct”(Milgram 579). Milgram set up an experiment to test the obedience of ordinary people. He tested authority vs the morals of the subjects. He had no theory when he

In his study on obedience, Milgram found that the presence or absence of a clear authority directly affects people's behaviour.

Generally speaking, unless someone has been living under a rock; it is clear that the subject of authority is exceedingly controversial in our current society. There are many ways to perceive just the word authority. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word authority as “the power to give orders or make decisions: the power or right to direct or control someone or something” and or “the confident quality of someone who knows a lot about something or who is respected or obeyed by other people.” From this we can gather a few things. First, there are three forms of authority according to Merriam-Webster dictionary; the right to authority, the power to have authority, and respect to have authority. The right to authority indicates

Before Milgram’s findings, the fact that people were inclined to obey to authority figures was already realized. He just confirmed this belief. Milgram followed effective steps by using precise procedures. He made sure that the experiment reflected features of an actual situation in which a person would obey to an authority figure: offering compensation (monetary reward in this experiment), being under pressure (Prods 1 to 4 in this case), and mentioning that the person who obeys can withdraw. These features can also be seen in a situation where a soldier is commanded to fire, for instance. A soldier will get a monetary compensation, is under pressure to obey because he chose to be part of the military, and he knows that he can resign at any time. Milgram created an experiment so precise and detailed that more than enough evidence was demonstrated.

The role of the Catholic Church going to the peripheries is huge for the community. First off, the Catholic Church helps those in need by donating to people who don’t have shelter, or people who don’t have food or water to drink. They also help by holding volunteer work, so people who want to help those in need can by being there. Another thing the Catholic Church does to help those in need is praying. Some people get together to help those in need by asking the Lord to help them. Others pray for them by themselves to help for those in need. The Catholic Church is very generous for being there when people are in need. The Catholic church greatly represents the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. They would help feed the hungry by bringing goods to those who need it. The Church can give drink to the thirsty by not wasting water. The Catholic Church helps people to shelter the homeless by collecting supplies they need. They can clothe the naked by donating clothes to those who don’t have enough. The Church can visit the sick and imprisoned giving blood and spending time volunteering at nursing homes. They bury the dead by sending a card to to someone who has lost a loved one. Finally, the Catholic Church give alms to the poor by donating money, like a the poor box in the Church. The Spiritual Works of Mercy can also represent the Catholic Church helping those in need. Overall, the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy really represent how the Catholic Church helps those in need, and the Church is a good role model for all Catholics alike.

Weber’s second type of influence is charismatic authority. Charismatic authority is characterized by a leader with rare personal features that attract others to them. Charismatic leaders have qualities that are powerful and challenging

Question #1) How does authority influence human behavior? What kinds of authority are the most influential?

     Weber identifies several different types of authority. One is traditional legitimacy, which states that authority is bestowed upon someone based on traditional roles of authority, such as the pope or even the parents of children. Charismatic authority tells us that some are granted legitimacy to have authority over our lives by sheer charisma, such as Martin Luther King jr., Adolf Hitler and Gandhi. The third type of authority is rational-legal authority. This states that we grant legitimacy based upon the office they serve. An example of this is the inherent authority of Jesse Ventura over the people of Minnesota, simply because he holds the title of governor.