Explain why conformity and obedience are important in the British Army

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Joseph Whitelegg        Unit 4 – Task 2        43006701

Explain why conformity and obedience are important in the British Army, giving reference to research studies.

Authority can be defined as the power or right to give orders or make decisions.

Authority maintains discipline, enforces rules and regulations, can come from one person or a group of people and can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used in. Officers in the British Army have the right to enforce obedience on others and their opinions are accepted not only because of this but because they are expected to have a better knowledge on the subject in question. Authority can, of course, be passed down through the ranks and when an officer in authority passes power onto another, usually a non-commissioned officer (NCO), then soldiers are expected to follow the commands given and to respect the chain of command.

Compliance usually involves a request for a person to behave in a certain way, an act of compliance, although this doesn’t have to be stated. In many occasions these actions are those which are in accordance with laws or rules and regulations. ‘The capacity or ability to make a person perform a task that goes against their interests

A good example of such levels of conformity being abandoned could be the incidents that took place in Abu Ghraib. Beginning in 2004,  in the form of , , and , including , , , and  of  held in the  in  (also known as  Correctional Facility) came to public attention. These acts were committed by military police personnel together with .

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Many people would never consider that soldiers would carry out such atrocities but some research shows that in fact anyone is capable of such acts if they are in a scenario that would encourage this. Professor Susan Fiske contends that many forms of behaviour, including acts of great evil, are influenced as much by authority figures, peer pressure and other social interactions as by the psychology of the individual. She goes on to explain how factors ranging from the stress of war, to the expectations of superiors can combine to cause ordinary people to commit seemingly inexplicable acts.

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