The Argument for Ordinary Men and their “Obedience to Authority” While Christopher Browning’s text Ordinary Men may be brief in length, it is robust with narrative content, data, and emotion. Detailing the corrupted Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police, Browning effectively launches an argument that the majority of these men were not innate mass murderers, but instead ordinary men. Browning successfully makes this argument by applying a great deal of focus to the men, as he establishes their backgrounds and analyzes their behavior. Furthermore, the psychological impact of a group setting is illustrated, as well as the effect of authority. The classic psychology film, Obedience to Authority, is central to this argument, and
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The phrase “middle-aged” is used a copious amount of times, and at one point Browning specifies that the ages ranged from “thirty-three to forty-eight” (Browning 47). Clearly, Browning is reiterating the median age of Reserve Police Battalion 101 for a reason, and this intention is revealed in his final chapter labeled “Ordinary Men.” In this section, Browning points out that an assumption exists stating that younger factions are generally associated with being overtly impressionable and eager to please, and therefore cultivate “Nazi perpetrators” (182). However, I believe that while age may affect “susceptibility to indoctrination”, age does not impact obedience to authority (Browning 182). In particular, this notion functions with the aforementioned detail of prior occupations. Of these men, “63 percent were of working-class background” (Browning 47). Consequently, it is possible to ascertain that as workers, they were no-doubt under a boss. Therefore, because of their ages, they had spent many years acting sheeplike under their employers. As a result of being under-control for decades, I believe their transition to the Reserve Police Battalion felt no different, and they were merely serving a new …show more content…
As is evident from Browning’s illustration of their prior jobs, there was no history of previous police involvement. Clearly, these lower middle-class workers were not “professional killers” (Browning xv). Therefore, it is possible to ascertain that these men had to be rigorously radicalized and fully instructed on how to become mass murders. This ‘learning-period’ is particularly evident in the behavior of the men during their Józefów massacre, where the skittish men acted as timid amateurs by prolonging their firing and missing shots. The entire scene is devoid of enthusiasm on the part of the majority of the Reserve Police Battalion, largely due to their unfamiliarity in such a situation because of their prior occupations. Consequently, the establishment of their past lives is inherently significant in removing the characterization of the Reserve Police Battalion as a band of career policeman born to kill. Ultimately, the accurate background of these men provided by Browning was a primary factor in my decision to subscribe to Browning’s thesis that these men were in fact
The phrase “middle-aged” is used a copious amount of times, and at one point Browning specifies that the ages ranged from “thirty-three to forty-eight” (Browning 47). Clearly, Browning is reiterating the median age of Reserve Police Battalion 101 for a reason, and this intention is revealed in his final chapter labeled “Ordinary Men.” In this section, Browning points out that an assumption exists stating that younger factions are generally associated with being overtly impressionable and eager to please, and therefore cultivate “Nazi perpetrators” (182). However, I believe that while age may affect “susceptibility to indoctrination”, age does not impact obedience to authority (Browning 182). In particular, this notion functions with the aforementioned detail of prior occupations. Of these men, “63 percent were of working-class background” (Browning 47). Consequently, it is possible to ascertain that as workers, they were no-doubt under a boss. Therefore, because of their ages, they had spent many years acting sheeplike under their employers. As a result of being under-control for decades, I believe their transition to the Reserve Police Battalion felt no different, and they were merely serving a new …show more content…
As is evident from Browning’s illustration of their prior jobs, there was no history of previous police involvement. Clearly, these lower middle-class workers were not “professional killers” (Browning xv). Therefore, it is possible to ascertain that these men had to be rigorously radicalized and fully instructed on how to become mass murders. This ‘learning-period’ is particularly evident in the behavior of the men during their Józefów massacre, where the skittish men acted as timid amateurs by prolonging their firing and missing shots. The entire scene is devoid of enthusiasm on the part of the majority of the Reserve Police Battalion, largely due to their unfamiliarity in such a situation because of their prior occupations. Consequently, the establishment of their past lives is inherently significant in removing the characterization of the Reserve Police Battalion as a band of career policeman born to kill. Ultimately, the accurate background of these men provided by Browning was a primary factor in my decision to subscribe to Browning’s thesis that these men were in fact