Legitimacy of authority:

• • Most societies are structured in a hierarchical way
  • Means that people in certain positions hold authority over the rest of us
  • ie parents
  • The authority they 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 because this allows society to function smoothly
• • One of the consequences of this legitimacy of authority is that some people are granted the power to punish others
  • We generally agree that the police and courts have the power to punish wrongdoers
  • So 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, from parents initially and then teachers and adults generally
• Destructive authority:


  Problems arise when legitimate authority becomes destructive

  History has too often shown that charismatic and powerful leaders (such as Hitler) can use their legitimate powers for destructive purposes, ordering people to behave in ways that are cruel and dangerous.

  Destructive authority was obvious in Milgram's study, when the Experimenter used prods to order participants to behave in ways that went against their consciences.