Totalitarianism Notes

Totalitarianism is when there is a leader of a mass who is an absolute dictator. A characteristic of a totalitarian regime is that the dictator rules by fear, and that through that fear any sense of individualism is lost.

Hannah Arendt, a German American, Jewish, political theorist believed that totalitarianism is worse than other forms of oppression because 'the means are more drastic'. In her book, The Origins of Totalitarianism', Arendt explained how totalitarianism seeks to destroy all social, legal and political traditions. She highlights the importance of a 'mass' in a totalitarian regime and argues that ideas of the individual is the only defence against such a regime.

An example of a totalitarian regime was that of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Hitler ruled by fear, and even "good" individuals, when ruled by fear, can be persuaded to think that anything is true; for example thinking that Jewish people were an inferior species. Arendt suggests that under a totalitarian regime, all sense of human morality, guilt and empathy are lost. This could be used as a reason to explain how the Nazis were capable of performing such cruel, immoral acts.

An important part of totalitarianism is that the mass has an overwhelming willingness to obey authority. It seems that people are willing to do things they never thought they would be capable of if they think it is for a worthy purpose, or they believe that the responsibility for their actions is not their own, but rather belongs to the authority giving them the orders.

An example of this is the experiment of Stanely Milgram in 1961. Milgram designed an experiment to try and understand how decent people, when blindly obeying rules, such as the Nazis, were capable of performing cruel acts on other individuals.

His experiment was to take an individual and lead them to believe that they are taking part in an experiment about memory. The individual, given the role of "teacher", was told to ask another individual, the "student", memory questions, and administer an electric shock to the "student" if they gave an incorrect answer. The "teacher" was separated from the room so that they could not see each other. The "teacher" was led to believe that the "student" was receiving electric shocks, when in fact the "student" was simply an actor and was not suffering at all. The role of the "scientist" conducting the experiment was also played by an actor, and portayed the role of the authoritative figure to the "teacher".

The "teacher" was told to administer shocks up to 450 volts, a shock that would be lethal to the "student". Before the experiment started, Milgram predicted that none of the "teachers" would go as far as to administer the lethal shock, and that if anyone did it would only be because they are mentally unstable.

The results of the experiment shocked (unintentional pun) the nation. Milgram found that over two thirds of the "teachers" administered the lethal 450 volts when instructed to do so by the "scientist", and all 40 participants administered up to 300 volts. Many showed concern for the well being of the "student", but after encouragement from the "scientist" that it was "essential" that they continue the experiment, they obeyed orders over their own moral compass.

Willingness to obey authority is not something that I have ever personally been able to understand; and while Milgram's findings horrified me, they did not surprise me given history, and society as a whole.