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Arguing, Obeying and Defying: A Rhetorical Perspective on Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiments


Arguing, Obeying and Defying: A Rhetorical Perspective on Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiments

Paperback by Gibson, Stephen (York St John University)

Arguing, Obeying and Defying: A Rhetorical Perspective on Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiments

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£24.79

ISBN:
9781108431811
Publication Date:
29 Oct 2020
Language:
English
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Pages:
242 pages
Format:
Paperback
For delivery:
Estimated despatch 16 - 21 May 2024
Arguing, Obeying and Defying: A Rhetorical Perspective on Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiments

Description

Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments are among the most influential and controversial scientific studies ever conducted. The experiments are commonly understood to have shown how easily people can be led into harming another person, simply as a result of following orders. Recently, however, Milgram's studies have been subjected to a sustained critique and re-evaluation. This book draws on the vast stock of audio recordings from Milgram's experiments to reveal how these experiments can be understood as occasions for argumentation and rhetoric, rather than showing how passive subjects can be led into simply doing as they are told. In doing so, it reconsiders what we understand by 'obedience' and extends how social psychologists have understood rhetoric itself.

Contents

1. Introduction; 2. The obedience experiments; 3. Re-evaluating Milgram; 4. A rhetorical perspective; 5. From standardised procedure to flexible rhetoric; 6. From proximity to argumentation; 7. From passive agents to active rhetoricians; 8. From a physical to a rhetorical metaphor; 9. Conclusion.

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