SOC371H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Stanford Prison Experiment, Psychological Trauma, Racialization
Document Summary
College students were randomly assigned as prisoners or guards. The experiment was aborted after 6 days, and prisoners suffered acute psychological trauma and breakdowns. The guards internalized their roles and subjected the prisoners to cruel punishments particularly in the night shift where they thought they wouldn"t get in trouble bythe research team. The study was created to look the power of institutional environments to influence those who pass through them. The abnormality was in the psychological nature of the situation and not in those who passed through it. There was a concern among members of society about whether prison is a good solution to the crime problem. Prisons were expensive and without evidence that proved that they were efficient it was and to justify the use of them. They was also growing concern for prisoners" rights during the late 1960"s.
