The My Lai Massacre: A Crime Of Obedience

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Numerous readings we have studied this semester give insight on the impact that society has on an individual’s life, and include certain statistics that are studied within this topic. Many sociologists believe that individuals are submerged into their surroundings and conform to the norms and standards that are set around them. These people are conformists, who follow the majority’s desires or expectations. In my life, I am surrounded by people that are extremely similar, if not carbon copies of one another. No matter where you go, you see communities and societies that are made up of people who are all alike and partake in similar actions. I feel that the influence of the majority within society and social institutions causes people to adhere …show more content…
For example, the My Lai Massacre was a sanctioned massacre, which is defined as “acts of indiscriminate, ruthless, and often systematic mass violence, carried out by military personnel”(Kelman and Hamilton 1989:22). A military unit is a band of people who have a goal in mind, and work together to perform the same tasks and achieve that goal. There is always a leader in charge of these types of groups, and due to this absolute authority, “the situation becomes so defined that the individual is absolved of the responsibility to make personal moral choices”(Kelman and Hamilton 1989:22). Members of these military units are given strict orders to do something, absolving them of their personal guilt or feelings of responsibility for their actions, no matter how morally unjust (Kelman and Hamilton 1989:230). These soldier’s actions become so routine that they do not even think of the repercussions or consequences that follow. These soldiers can fit into any of the conformity categories. They are all heavily influenced to conform by the authorization, routinization, and dehumanization that military units like this are susceptive to. The soldiers involved in the My Lai Massacre overlooked any objections they may have had to comply with their officers, feel like …show more content…
Darley and Bibb Latané, the authors talk about the phenomenon known as the bystander effect. In the context of this article, the authors refer to the bystander effect as a social psychological phenomenon that occurs when individuals do not offer any form of help to a victim if and when other people are present. The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders. The more people around, the less likely it is that a bystander will help someone in trouble. One reason for this is called diffusion of responsibility. This is when people assume that others will intervene in a situation, so they feel less responsible to help the person themselves. Another explanation behind the bystander effect is called pluralistic ignorance. This is when no one offers help response to a situation, which lessens the severity of the situation in the eyes of a bystander, making them feel like their help is not necessary. This phenomenon is exemplified in the article, where a lady was attacked and killed on the street in front of many bystanders. In this situation,“the responsibility for helping was diffused among the observers; there was also diffusion of any potential blame for not taking action; and finally, it was possible that somebody, unperceived, had already initiated helping action”(Darley and Latané 1968:377). The way that others in the group behaved and the
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