ABSTRACT
The iconic photographs of abuse in 2003 at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq are explained by social scientist Philip Zimbardo through a narrative and analysis of group conformity, and in terms of his 1971 Stanford Prison Study. This chapter considers Zimbardo's experiment, which provides an explanation of group conformity to social roles, which within a social context, Zimbardo argues can influence, shape, alter, and even transform human behavior. Zimbardo has acknowledged Christina Maslach's whistle blowing role throughout his writings, and in fact, he dedicates his most recent book, The Lucifer Effect, to her. The difference between Zimbardo's experiment and the events at Abu Ghraib is that cultural differences did not exist in Zimbardo's experiment. Unlike at Abu Ghraib, where prisoners were Iraqi, and where interrogation techniques were used that exploited Iraqi cultural fears. Cynthia Enloe describes the military, and the process of militarization, as part and parcel of patriarchy or privileged masculinity.
