Citation

Passini S, Morselli D. New Ideas Psychol. 2009; 27(1): 96-106.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.newideapsych.2008.06.001

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Recent episodes of public dissent, such as demonstrations against the G8 policy over the last 10 years and the 2005 riots in the Paris suburbs, have staked their claim to a more profound focus on the meaning of disobedience within democratic systems. Are these acts of disobedience a form of non-institutionalized political action or some form of social deviance? Indeed, on the one hand, such disobedient actions are the expression of dissent arising from citizens, who want to be part of the decision-making process concerning global issues. On the other, protests often turn into urban guerrilla warfare causing damage to people and objects that are difficult to curtail.

From a social-psychological standpoint, these phenomena raise relevant questions concerning the psychological processes set off in obeying and disobeying the authority, and on the role that disobedience has in the relationship between individuals and society.

Even if obedience to authority is an important aspect of social life and it plays a key role in maintaining social order, the concept of obedience has been studied in social psychology mainly in terms of its destructive aspects. Besides, most of the studies have overlooked the role of disobedience in the authority relationship. Disobedience may be conceived of as a protest that undermines the legitimacy of the authority or it can represent an instrument for controlling the legitimacy of the authority's demands, becoming a factor protecting against authoritarianism. In this article, a new perspective on the study of the relationship between the individual and the authority is put forward, considering obedience and disobedience as parallel concepts, each having constructive and destructive aspects.