Agentic State, Authority

• The opposite of being in an agentic state is being in an autonomous state.
• ‘Autonomy’ means to be independent or free.
• A person in an autonomous state is free to behave according to their own principles and therefore feels a sense of responsibility for their own actions.
• The shift from autonomy to ‘agency’ is called the agentic shift.
• Milgram (1974) suggested that this occurs when a person perceives someone else as a figure of authority.
• This other person has greater power because of their position in a social hierarchy.
• In most social groups when one person is in charge, others defer to this person and shift from autonomy to agency.
• In the autonomous state, people have the free will to do what want and take responsibility. When an authority figure gives an order, ppts shift to an agentic state where they believe they are no longer responsible for their actions.
• Most societies are structured in a hierarchical way, with people in certain positions holding authority over the rest of us.
• Parents, teachers, police officers, and nightclub bouncers, all have some kind of authority over us at times.
• The authority these individuals wield is legitimate in the sense that it is agreed by society.
• Most of us accept that authority figures have to be allowed to exercise social power over others, as this allows society to function smoothly.
• One of the consequences of the legitimacy of authority is that some people are granted the power to punish others.
• Most of us accept that the police and courts have the power to punish wrongdoers.
• We are willing to give up some of our independence and to hand control of our behaviour over to people we trust to exercise their authority appropriately.
• We learn acceptance of legitimate authority from childhood, initially from parents and then teachers and adults generally.