AGENCY THEORYBy Stanley Milgram

Learning Objectives

By the end of the session you will be able to:

Describe Agency Theory using appropriate terminology

Evaluate Agency theory using ‘CASTLES’

Agency Theory

THIS THEORY IS BASED ON THE CONCEPT OF AN

“AGENTIC STATE”

This is a state of mind that people shift in to

Agency theory

Early humans found that by working in groups with leaders (rather than autonomously) they had a better chance of survival

Evolutionary theory suggests that such a hierarchical social system has been passed on genetically

Milgram suggested that children learn to act agentically from their parents and schools

Milgram (1974) claims that our social systems encourage high levels of obedience.

Key terms

Agentic state Autonomous state Moral strain

Agentic state

According to Milgram, this means that when a person obeys someone in authority they become their agent and give up their free will

e.g. in Milgram’s experiment, the pps (teacher) became the agent of the researcher following out his order and obeying his will

(imagine an estate agent selling a

house on the orders of the owner)

Agency theory suggests

That when participants are giving shocks the person feels they are acting as the agent of the person in charge.

Agentic State

Milgram suggested that two things must happen for a person to enter the Agentic state

1. The person giving the orders must be seen as legitimate

2. The person being ordered about is able to believe that the authority will accept responsibility for what happens

Making an agentic shift is a coping mechanism Cognitive psychologists would say we

have developed a schema for avoiding confrontation.

In Milgram’s study, slipping into an agentic state whereby you do as your told and don’t think, helps you to cope with any conflicts, and avoid any direct confrontation.

Autonomous State

This is the opposite to an agentic state

- this is where an individual is free thinking and able to make their own decision

Autonomous State

Autonomy means being

under ones

own control and being in

charge of yourself.

HAVING FREE WILL

Moral Strain

This means feeling uncomfortable with your behaviour because you know it is wrong and it goes against your own values – Milgram’s pps felt moral strain when they continued to obey even though they felt it was wrong, but felt unable to disobey

How did they display moral

strain?

Evaluation Milgram’s Agency theory can offer a credible

explanation for the actions of war criminals who claim they were ‘only following orders’ such as the My Lai massacre in Vietnam

Strengths

Milgram’s experiment can be used to support agency theory. It does provide an explanation of why people continue to give electric shocks just because another told them to.

Other experiments into obedience such as Hoffling’s have also found very high levels of obedience to immoral orders. They can also be used to support agency theory.

 

Weaknesses There is no physical evidence that such a state exists. For

example there are no Brain scans or e.e.g.’s that show when a person is or isn’t in the agentic state.

Many of Milgrams participants do seem to have been able to move out of the state and refuse at some point. The theory doesn’t explain how or why this may happen.

The theory is very vague in many ways. Milgram is not clear with regard to the cognitive or the physiological features of this so called agentic state.

French and Ravens social power theory provides an alternative theory of why people obey.