(Untitled)

[vgologist]

http://www.prisonexp.org/

Really interesting experiment they did at Stanford some years ago. An interesting read.

Comments

[montesquieu]

Notice how the authoritarian structure of the prison system inflicts psychological harm both on the prisoners AND the guards. With the prisoners, the harm is obvious - emotional breakdown, loss of perspective, and on and on. But what the study really showed, I thought, was that _the guards_ are harmed as well. They become desensitized to the violence they inflict upon the prisoners, and are capable (in only a few days) of dehumanizing groups of people who look and sound and act just like them, to the point of turning them into mere objects for abuse.