agency theory essay

• Milgram's belief

  We are all capable of obedience and it must serve some form of societal or evolutionary function
• Milgram observed that society follows a hierarchical structure, and those at the bottom of society must give up their free will
• We are socialised into obeying from a young age with parents and school teachers using reward and punishment to encourage obedience in young children
• Autonomous state


  Where we feel responsible for our actions and behaviour so we feel guilt for what we do
• Agentic state


  Where we feel no personal responsibility for ourselves because we believe that we are acting on behalf of an authority figure
• Agentic shift


  1. Occurs when we are in the presence of a perceived person of authority, higher up the social hierarchy

  2. May be seen via badges and uniforms
• 65% were in the agentic state at 450V and those who refused to obey were in the autonomous state
• The agentic shift occurs due to the researcher giving instructions so blame is displaced onto them
• Different stages of agency theory

  Can explain experiments such as Milgram
• The use of terms such as autonomous state and agentic state are not measurable, making it a subjective measure, therefore the explanation may lack scientific credibility
• Diffusion of responsibility


  The person is no longer monitoring their own behaviour, for example during Milgram's experiment participants describe that they were 'just following orders' and did not consider themselves to be responsible
• Milgram observed many participants who experienced moral strain when ordered to deliver shocks to others
• Moral strain


  When someone is asked to do something that goes against their moral values such as acts of blind obedience which may result in feelings of anxiety and distress
• When students were asked to watch a film, they blamed the authority figure, showing that a legitimate authority figure is expected to be the cause of obedience
• Other theories such as charismatic leadership theory can also explain obedience, showing that the persuasiveness of leaders such as Hitler and propaganda can lead to obedience levels
• Defence mechanisms


  Ways to deal with moral strain that comes from obedience which goes against the morals of a person
• Defence mechanisms


  • Rationalisation
  • Denial
• The theory would show that the German soldiers and officials were in the agentic state and Hitler and any Germans helping the Jews were in the autonomous state, which can help prevent events like the Holocaust from occurring again
• The theory is limited as it is only descriptive and doesn't tell us why obedience happens in the first place, only describes the stages that occur whilst being obedient to authority
• Agency theory shows the importance of symbols of authority for example uniforms with police officers and teachers to increase the likelihood of obedience, which would help society to run smoothly as a safe and stable environment