1920’s
America decided the way forward was to ban all alcohol sales, consumption,
production and transportation. The above headline announced the US was now a ‘dry’
country and anyone caught breaking these laws would be at the hands of the law
enforcement system. As it was a country wide ban enforced by the government, it
is a prime example of the Authority
Agent Altercasting technique.
A
study by Bickman (1974) showed that
the mere presence of a uniform was enough to enhance compliance from
individuals. The experiment involved an individual stopping in the street and asking
a stranger to either pick up a bag, give a stranger a dime or to move away
from the bus stop. There were also three conditions, a guard condition in which
the requester was dressed as a guard, a milkman condition in which they were
dressed as a milkman and a civilian condition in which they were dressed as a
normal member of the public.
As
you can see below in table 1, those who were asked to complete a task by an
individual dressed as a guard were more compliant. In particular those in the
guard condition were more than twice as likely to comply on each task than those in
the civilian condition.
From
this it was concluded that just the mere presence of a uniform and the idea of
the authority that is associated with a uniform is enough to enhance
compliance.
In
the case of 1920’s America, this technique should have worked as the government
were the authoritative agent and so this should have enhanced compliance. The reason
this in fact did not work was because it actually created a sense of scarceness about alcohol. The fact it
was now going to be banned made it seem so valuable that individuals thought
they must do anything they can to get their hands on it, thus the creation of
undercover speak easies and moonshine.
Perhaps
the USA government would have been better creating a campaign to reduce alcohol
consumption, rather than banning it altogether. Images such as the one below aim to
target alcohol consumption and promote alcohol in moderation rather than banning it altogether
and from the comparable lack of speakeasies and moonshine compared to 1920's America, it’s probably fair
to say this is a much more beneficial persuasive technique.
References
Bickman, L. (1974). The social power of a uniform. Journal
of Applied Social Psychology, 4(1), 47-61.
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