Abstract
Obedience and disobedience have always been salient issues for both civil society and social psychologists. Since Milgram’s first studies on destructive obedience there has not been a bottom-up definition of what obedience and disobedience mean. The current study aimed at investigating the social representations young adults use to define and to co-construct knowledge about obedience and disobedience in Austria. One hundred fifty four (106 females, 68.8%) Austrian young adults (Mean age = 22.9; SD = 3.5) completed a mixed-method questionnaire comprising open-ended questions and free word associations. Overall obedience and disobedience are respectively defined as conformity and non-conformity to regulations, ranging from implicit social norms to explicit formal laws. Authority is multi-faceted and has a central role in orienting obedience and disobedience. Further fundamental determinants of the authority relationship and relevant application of the results are discussed in this paper.
Highlights
The relationship with the authority is a fundamental element in every social context, since every social organization, whether it is a family or an institution, is based on an hierarchical structure to adequately function (Passini & Morselli, 2010c)
Obedience was defined as conformity with regulations, acceptance of laws without any questioning, and the ability to contemplate one’s conformity with regulation was stressed among the answers
As authority relationship is a social object that people deal with from childhood onwards and as it is a social phenomenon currently characterizing the socio-political world, it had to be investigated according to a constructivist approach (Gelo, 2012), such as social representation theory
Summary
The relationship with the authority is a fundamental element in every social context, since every social organization, whether it is a family or an institution, is based on an hierarchical structure to adequately function (Passini & Morselli, 2010c). The importance of considering the societal level in the authority relationship analysis, going beyond individual and not ecological inquiry, can contribute to a full comprehension of these complex phenomena (Morselli & Passini, 2011; Moscovici, 2011). According to these assumptions, several scholars (Elcheroth, Doise, & Reicher, 2011; Morselli & Passini, 2011; Staerklé, Clémence, & Spini, 2011) highlighted the relevance of studying authority relationship through the paradigmatic lenses of social representations theory (SRT) (Moscovici, 1961). Social representations are shared knowledge that people build together in order to act within the world (Abric & Tafani, 2009) and, according to these premises, this study aims to define and unveil the social representations of obedience and disobedience using a mixed-method research approach
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