ABSTRACT
Obedience to authority is a ubiquitous phenomenon in our complex, hierarchically organized societies, but it is one that has been viewed with great ambivalence. Obedience has sometimes been praised for enabling people to organize and stand bravely together, doing their duty in the face of a common danger. One historical event that has become an epitome of both disciplined obedience and bravery against overwhelming odds occurred at Thermopylae Pass during the Persian-Greek wars fought in the Fifth century B.C. There, a small band of Spartan soldiers, under the command of their king, Leonidas, held off a far larger force of invading Persians by continuing to fight as commanded until the very last of them had been killed (Simonides, as cited in Bowra, 1961). But if obedience has at times been praised, it has at other times been denounced for contributing to the performance of callous, brutal, and cowardly acts. Some of the ambivalence associated with obedience is captured in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s
famous poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” Historically speaking, this ill-fated British charge against Russian troops during the Crimean War resulted from error and confusion in the issuing of commands; but although Tennyson acknowledges this in his poem, he still manages to make the disastrous charge seem heroic.
