The Stanford Prison Experiment

In the video about The Stanford Prison Experiment it was mentioned how “the goal was to show how power corrupts. That it is difficult for the victims of abuse to stand up and defend themselves.” The abused in this experiment were the prisoners. They would resist their abuse with hunger strikes or putting bed posts up against their cell door. However, when the prisoners resisted the oppression, the ward would use their power to humiliate, physically exhaust, and psychologically degrade the prisoners.

            When connecting this experiment to race, I think about the Rodney King race riots. How black people rioted in Los Angeles over this crime of police brutality, but despite the riots, the ruling racial group (whites) got away with the crime because the assailants who beat Rodney King were acquitted.

            It was the same for the prison ward (who were like the dominant white race). They were able to get away with oppressing the prisoners (who were like the non-white race) because they were the dominant class. It’s mentioned in the reading how the privileged want to have a competitive edge over another person: that they are “reluctant to lose anything that gives them and edge” (Johnson 70). That edge is their power. It can corrupt the prison wards, the police officers, it can corrupt anyone and lead to oppression.