Examination of The Zimbardo Experiment

This is another sociology assignment.

Discussion of Sociological Perspectives: Conflict Perspective
Question: Why did the treatment of the prisoners by the guards get worse so quickly as the experiment progressed?
Answer: There was an abrupt changing of social class at the beginning of this experiment, when the group went from being comprised of white males from mostly the same social class to being split into two distinct classes: prisoners and guards. This social pattern gave guards all of the advantages and prisoners all the disadvantages, leading guards to feel empowered over prisoners because of their higher social standing, and causing them to lose Verstehen for their prisoners and to exert their newfound power.
Discussion of Sociological Perspectives: Symbolic-Interaction Perspective
Question: Why did the environment surrounding the Zimbardo Experiment become so much like that of a real prison?
Answer: Life inside of the Zimbardo Experiment became so similar to life inside of a real prison because it functioned as a real prison. Prisoners were allowed only minimal, controlled contact with the outside world, and guards were mostly shut off from the outside as well. Because of this disconnection from the rest of society, life in the micro became like life in the macro: with conditions similar to what real people in this scenario faced, fake prisoners started to act like real prisoners and fake guards started to act like real guards. They forgot what they had experienced in the outside world and let their day-to-day life define them.

Discussion of Sociological Imagination 
Sociological Imagination of Participants: A development of sociological imagination would have helped the participants because they would have been able to keep what was going on in their day-to-day lives in context with what they knew about society. With a sociological imagination, they would have been less involved with their daily life because they would have been able to keep the sociological perspective in mind and think about society as a whole, making their experience less intense.
Discussion of Sociological Imagination: This experiment going south so quickly showed me the things that society is capable of when isolated and how much regular society can change when put under a microscope. This widened my sociological imagination by presenting me with all of the different aspects of society, and also by showcasing how much societal norms and values can differ as a whole, especially when a couple of limits are changed.