Arguing, Obeying and Defying

This text presents a qualitative analysis of the transcripts from the experimental sessions from one of the most notorious academic studies ever conducted: Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments. It will appeal to scholars and students in psychology, the social sciences, and the history of science.

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Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments are among the most influential and controversial scientific studies ever conducted. The experiments are commonly understood to have shown how easily people can be led into harming another person, simply as a result of following orders. Recently, however, Milgram's studies have been subjected to a sustained critique and re-evaluation. This book draws on the vast stock of audio recordings from Milgram's experiments to reveal how these experiments can be understood as occasions for argumentation and rhetoric, rather than showing how passive subjects can be led into simply doing as they are told. In doing so, it reconsiders what we understand by 'obedience' and extends how social psychologists have understood rhetoric itself.