Milgram, the social mechanics of gross human rights violations, and President Trump

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Public International Law and Human Rights, grade: A+, , course: Understanding Human Rights, language: English, abstract: Milgram's work in his 1974 book Obedience to Authority provides a useful analytical tool for understanding the social mechanics that lead to gross violations of human rights. A socially constructed locus of authority supported by an institutional machinery, the socialisation of a worldview based on an us versus them philosophy that supplies ideological legitimacy to the authority's commands, and the fragmentation of acts into narrower tasks in hierarchically structured bureaucracies which profit from most people's tendency to obey authority. Based on available reports and key decisions made to date, it may be said that the social mechanics described by Milgram are in operation in the U.S. and that President Trump is both the product and the source of a political and social environment that is making it much easier for people to engage in behaviour that constitutes human rights violations - such as discriminatory acts, and that unless there is strong and consistent dissent, it is possible that the situation will continue to deteriorate.