Arguing, Obeying and Defying: A Rhetorical Perspective on Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiments - Hardcover

Gibson, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1108421334 ISBN 13: 9781108421331

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2019

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen Gibson is a social psychologist based at York St John University. His research interests are in the areas of social influence, social identity, peace and conflict, citizenship and rhetorical/discursive psychology.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108421334
• ISBN 13: 9781108421331
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240