Stanford Prison Experiment

In 1971, an American psychologist named Philip Zambardo undertook an experiment in which 24 male students like ourselves would re-enact the day-to-day activities of a standard prison. He was trying to establish why conflicts were so common between militants and their inmates. Half would be taken as prisoners, given a number to represent themselves, and then put in a cell. The other half would be the guards that watched over them day and night. Each participant would be paid $15 a day (roughly $85 a day in 2011), regardless of their duty. This lead to 70 applying, with only those mentally and physically strong enough given the go-ahead. Would you be so willing?

As it turns out, this seemingly harmless experiment would not make it past the sixth day; it all began as a bit of fun for those involved. Officers were instructed to control prisoners as expected of a normal prison, however inmates responded to orders in a lackadaisical fashion, as if consequences were impossible. And yes, they would have been: however a group within the twelve "superiors" were not happy at the lack of respect given to them by their counter-parts. The first mock revolt staged by the prisoners was squashed quickly by those on duty, using physical methods of punishment despite instruction prior to the experiment not to. Dr. Zambardo and his team did not react to this though, and left the volunteers to continue as they were. This form of punishment was only the beginning. The numbers given to each inmate were re-enforced after this, with prisoners made to call each other by number rather than by name. Prisoners failing to do this would be presented with correctional procedures, usually physically. It was only day two, and already the signs of de-humanisation described in real life situations were beginning to show. There were descriptions of inmates being kicked and punched, inmates being stripped and abused verbally, and even inmates being made to clean un-flushed toilets with their bare hands. 

The days passed, with two inmates being taken away from the experiment due to mental health problems resulting from the onslaught. Zambardo however was engrossed in how quickly his theories were taking shape, and failed to recognise that he had turned 24 completely innocent adolescents into a mixture of sadists and quivering meltdowns. It was only when he took his girlfriend at the time to see his creation that he was alerted to how de-humanised all participants had become, and decided to end it there. 

Economic comparisons

Although there is no strict relevance to economic theory, this is an economics blog. So just as we can make psychological accusations towards superior officers active overseas, like many did at the news of abuse in Abu Gharaib in 2003, we can insinuate similar psychological stimulations happen outside of prisons and in the world of economics. Income inequality is certainly one area in which some humans are thrust into a state of fortune and power. We can complain that some of these bodies do not do their fair share to close the income gap, but perhaps it is not character flaws within them that stop this from happening. Parental and social class influence is possibly the strongest weapon of all in creating super-powers that have no second thought for those struggling to make their way in this world: those that they have no idea are there. The Stanford Prison experiment proves to us that "the innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time."