I have watched the Stanford Prison experiment in a Psychology class before so I only looked at it from a psychology perspective. After watching it now and thinking of it from an racial point of view, I see it from a different way. What struck me most was it seemed like everyone involved in the experiment was white and a male. If this is true, everyone started off equal because they were white males. In terms of race, the prisoners were treated like the oppressed while the guards were clearly the oppressors.
In society, we are shaped in part by what we are told from a young age. The guards who did not want to participate as harshly as the others were like white people who see racism, do not agree with it, yet do nothing about it. This is because they do not want to be looked at as unlike people of their own race. The prisoners who resist are like the oppressed who do not accept it and try to break the cycle.
The idea of privilege is showed perfectly here. The guards, who were equal to the prisoners, felt as though they had privilege because they were in uniform. This happened very quickly. Power and oppression was controlled by the guards as well. One would think the oppression factor would be normal because real guards to oppress prisoners. However, what I found most notable was the fact that the prisoners so quickly became the oppressed. They moved into those roles far too easily. Even the professor conducting the experiment kind of got caught up in the experiment also. We see this in our society but it stands out more when you see an experiment like this.
I totally agree with you. Watching this video it is easy to see how it directly relates to real life situations. It shows how given a situation we will resort to whatever we need to. If we feel that we are supposed to act a certain way we will, because we don't want to be the person going against the path of MOST resistance. We take the easy way.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you, though I do wonder why it is easier for society to fall into the power games instead of being equal. Have humans always been like that? I wonder why we can't all just share and not try to control others.
ReplyDeleteGreat post-I wonder why they did not include females in this experiment.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading your post and watching the experiment I too wonder about what Ruth said and if humans beings have always been the way they are.
I also agree with your point that we are shaped from a young age to believe certain things. We aren't born with having prejudices against people so somehwere along the road they come in and shape our lives in certain ways.
I do wonder why the only chose males in this experiment. Perhaps because they didn't want already pre-conseived prejudices between the participants to effect the experiment? For example (this was the 1970's, keep in mind), it would not be uncommon for a white male to already have racial oppinions about a black male, especially in a jail setting.
ReplyDeleteexcellent post I hadn't acknowledged the all white male aspect before. They all started off equals and it even took them a day to settle into the roles in the experiment but once they did they fell into an alternate reality alarmingly fast.
ReplyDeleteOther posts identify the uniform as the source of the oppression, but I think you correctly identified the prisoners quick submission as a key player in the experiment gone wrong.
Joanie, I meant to include what you mentioned. I agree that if a female or a black male were to have been a part of the experiment, it may have made the experiment less powerful due to the time in which it was done. Thank you for pointing that out and reminding me because I think that is an important factor.
ReplyDeletewonderful post. Really in these videos it is shown how an institute and titles control human behavior. Most people started to act like their given role even though they are fully aware that this is just an experiment and this is going to last for only two weeks.
ReplyDeleteI think the jail setting gave the prisoners the notion of being the oppressed one and they started behaving like their title just like guards title made them behave like the controllers. Apart from this experiment it just gives me the idea that institution really does matter and affects human behavior.
I was thinking and wondering the same thing if there were females involved. I think it would have been really interesting if there were because I do not think the guards would have acted as cruel to them. Also if a person of color was involved as well I doubt a white male peer would have been able to been as cruel to them.
ReplyDeleteThis experiment got me thinking about oppression, not just in America, but other countries. I was reading an article in Time Magazine about the atrocities going on in Burma. After watching The Stanford Experiment, I thought about how it was a microcosm to the rape, the pillaging, the dehumanization mentioned in the article.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Ruth, I also agree with you and the idea that maybe humans have always been this way. I used the fight or flight instinct that we have to maybe explain, not excuse, why we tend to look out for number one these types of situations. I don't now any scientific research or anything like that, but it makes sense to me. I know there have been times when I knew what I was hearing or seeing was wrong but I was afraid to speak up so I removed myself from the situation to avoid an altercation. Not proud, but I did.
ReplyDeleteI noticed as well that there were only white males invovled. It's so true that our society is developed from what we are taught when we are children and growing up. The media just trains us to believe what they say and that it's true. You made great relations with the guards who acted harshly and those who did not to people in our society today. I couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Along with many of our other classmates, I saw that both of the prisoners and guards were all white males. I think that it was the power of the roles that caused the oppression rather than the uniform. Although the uniform is responsible for the power trip as well, I do believe the prisoners slipping into character as another factor into the experiment. I do wonder as the first posts mentioned- what about human beings makes us seek out control and power over others? Is there some sort of biological element?
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