Doris Lessing’s “Group Minds” goes into depth about a human’s instinct to act and think based on a group environment, and that it can be changed if the tendency of group mentality is known at an early age. “The Perils of Obedience”, written by Stanley Milgram makes points that prove that the habit of following the group is not so easily broken. Milgram mentions that a humans desire to please an authority figure is so high that they are willing to do almost anything. Humans acting as sheep is a theory that very accuratetly represents the mindless following that many take in order to fit in. Lessing presents an eye opening, yet practically unachievable vision into the idea of breaking group mentality.
Stanley Milgram’s first line in “The Perils of Obedience” says: “Obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social life as one can point to.” (631) What Milgram means by this is that obedience is a natural thing, which agrees with what Lessing says in “Group …show more content…
Milgram’s article is a test of how far someone will go in order to abide by an authority figure, and the outcome of his experiment was not what was expected. The experiment included highly educated individuals (Yale undergraduates) who all probably execute individuality in non-pressure situations, but when faced with an intense situation and someone telling them what to do, they caved to the voice of an authority figure. The experiment involved harming someone at the command of a voice, and strictly obeying for the sake abiding by the orders of an author. Lessing blindly challenges the school system and accuses it of being “… resistant to change, equipped with sacred assumptions about which there can be no discussion.” (653). This point is a poor and narrow-minded view in which Lessing does not take into account any other way to see the cause in the commonness of following a
Stanley Milgram’s first line in “The Perils of Obedience” says: “Obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social life as one can point to.” (631) What Milgram means by this is that obedience is a natural thing, which agrees with what Lessing says in “Group …show more content…
Milgram’s article is a test of how far someone will go in order to abide by an authority figure, and the outcome of his experiment was not what was expected. The experiment included highly educated individuals (Yale undergraduates) who all probably execute individuality in non-pressure situations, but when faced with an intense situation and someone telling them what to do, they caved to the voice of an authority figure. The experiment involved harming someone at the command of a voice, and strictly obeying for the sake abiding by the orders of an author. Lessing blindly challenges the school system and accuses it of being “… resistant to change, equipped with sacred assumptions about which there can be no discussion.” (653). This point is a poor and narrow-minded view in which Lessing does not take into account any other way to see the cause in the commonness of following a