A2 Philip Zimbardo: How ordinary people become monsters ... or heroes

Firstly, I realise Phil Zimbardo is a (Social) Psychologist, but do we as sociologists not have an obligation to address the question of, "what makes people turn evil" even when we are usually looking at such problems more systematically and through social structures. And how do we as sociologists relate this to 'crime and deviance'? Zimbardo looks at whether 'evil' is a fixed or a moving concept. Are we as an individual good or evil - is it as simple as that (or can we simply shift from one to the other)? Zimbardo looks at the 'Lucifer Effect' and how Lucifer went from god’s favourite angel (Lucifer means 'the light') to an occupant of 'hell' (see right illustration). Was he manipulated by the system, or were his flaws more psychological?

What may be more relevant is the unique circumstances that makes people do evil things, and how do we as individuals justify causing harm (think of the harmful impact of a war, regardless of the political reasoning)? In the C&D module, is it worth looking at those few bad apples, or the barrel itself (the barrell being the system)? If people are the actors on a stage, is their behaviour determined by the stage or are they acting independently, as conscious beings - as you can see on the attached video Zimbardo claims that the power is in the system. Obviously individual acts will relate more to Interactionism as a theory, but can sociologists link in the Marxist perspective here, is the system to blame for working class crime? Or maybe more importantly are the criminals those who can't achieve legitimate goals, when the system deprives them of the means.

The more anonymous the criminal is, dressed in face paint, a uniform, whatever, does this make them more likely to commit harm under the banner of a mystical force, under the cloak of invisability? The 'Stanford Prison Experiment' showed us that criminal acts are not beyond any one individual or put more bluntly, Zimbardo claims any one individual can turn to crime or an act of evil if the environment is conducive.