Obedience vs. Recalcitrance

obedient
/oʊˈbi di ənt/

adjective
1. obeying or willing to obey; complying with or submissive to authority

recalcitrant
/rɪˈkæl sɪ trənt/

adjective
1. resisting authority or control; not obedient or compliant; refractory.
2. hard to deal with, manage, or operate.

Source

Whether you are a child or an adult, obedience will have its rewards and recalcitrance its punishments. That is a fact of life and lesson we learn from an early age. What is the difference, however, between questioning authority and resisting it? While I am a law-abiding and obedient adult, developing my critical thinking skills over the years has encouraged me to be less trusting of authority and more weary of its nature.

Despite being suspicious of authority, I do strongly believe that it is an essential part of any civilised society. After all, it is usually the young whom benefit the most from authority. Inexperience, lack of knowledge and recklessness are potentially dangerous traits if not kept in check by some authoritative body.

Just like when comparing any opposing concepts in life, it is usually beneficial to find a balance when putting them into practice. If we are too obedient, we risk tyranny and oppression from those in power. If we are too recalcitrant, we risk violence and imprisonment from those authoritative bodies.

Thoughts?

Most so-called authorities are clueless incompetent idiots ... they serve their own ends and get people killed with their idiocy.

a reply to: Dark Ghost

The prime aspect is the amount of degree of independence allowed to the individual by the larger society. Society, as with a government, cannot allow folks to run off hogwild in every direction. So it provides direction, several directions in fact. They become set into a basic ideology that may cover all aspects of what one wonders about and/or how one chooses to approach their participation (or not) in the society.

Yet there is the personal factor overlooked here that goes beyond a simple "free will" of the individual. Some people are psychologically imprinted with the need to resist joining society in its largeness. (I have a family member of such inclinations.) They play the edges of society, tempting it to punish them. And we must deduce that we all have a variable ability, if not set ability, to encounter society on any level we feel we can or must. All in all, society had better be prepared to accommodate these differences or it may eventually find itself in trouble if enough rebels emerge. Then again, society will attempt to stomp down those that it holds in disfavor. So there is always a natural, writhing conflict between society and the individual and no simple answer.

a reply to: Dark Ghost

Define authority please.

Is it a boss, religious leader or politician?

I question all of the above on a daily basis, but since a boss has an immediate effect on my life I am less apt to resist what he/she says. No matter how bone-headed it is.

The other two types are typically clueless as to their relevance in my life. Which is none, which is why my resistance to them comes by way of non-action.

Ignore something like an elected leader long enough and you'll be amazed at how much better your life will be.

The don't care about us anyway.......I'm just returning the favor

But why should one person have the right to take another person's rights away for not doing what society thinks is right? And who is society? The majority of people in a given area? Obedience is for those who lack the will to reserve themselves enough for people around them to stand their presence... However does this give authorities a valid reason to lock them in a cage or take their money? Violent people and thieves are the only true criminals who should be punished in ANY society, and they always will be regardless of the circumstances. But then again the most obscene violence and thievery in today's society is perpetuated by... the authorities

a reply to: Taupin Desciple

Violence and imprisonment probably means government... or at that's how I understood it

a reply to: Taupin Desciple

Define authority please.

Authority is the ultimate threat… if you don't obey.
If you for instance don't pay tour tax because some amount of that goes to build bombs that drop on foreign lands and you carry that resistance to authority far enough you will be tried and sentenced to jail where you may meet the Ultimate threat named Bubba.

Becoming Bubbas next victim is why you pay your tax, he is the ultimate punishment that makes your average earner comply.

a reply to: Dark Ghost

i like the idea of partnership, as in a mutually beneficial team. obedience vs recalcitrance makes it feel like a permanent imbalance in the relationship, more one-sided than not. one master, one b!$%h.

and there is virtue to playing both roles, as confidence and humility are equally important. i feel it is when one spends too much time in one position or the other that they begin to experience that imbalance. they become too meek or too bold and forget that they have the potential for both, and that a straight line requires discipline.

a reply to: Dark Ghost
Nice thread. I was reading the other day those with ADHD can develop opposition to authority (ODD). In fact, about 5/13 with ADHD will also have ODD. In the general population, by comparison, only up to at most 2/13 will have ODD. I wonder if most people who actively resist authority might have mental disorders, like ADHD or other? And why do boys show signs of ADHD in a different way than females? Hyperactivity and opposition to authority seems to be more common in boys with ADHD than females wiht ADHD. And after puberty the incidence of ODD in is 1:1 males:females.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is does having success in your own life reduce the chances you'll oppose authority? My thought is a mental disorder will reduce success in ones life and in turn perhaps cause them to oppose authority. Why? I don't know. I'm just asking a question.

a reply to: TzarChasm

Just a small problem: If you want to be the bitch, then it's mostly because in real life you're used to have others do what you ask from them, arrogant people, where the personal balance is in it's natural position more on the side of "master", like to create an artificial balance to keep that under control.
On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised, if many of these "people pleasers", super nice waiters, nurses, doctors, and so on were pretty, bloody brutal in their recreational activities.
I never heard how it is just a "thing" were you get your "stuff" and then you eventually just roleplay...
It is a serious sexual orientation, like gays, lesbians, and so on. With a history full of misunderstandings, especially since this "shades of grey"- nightmare. Not only is it the worst written fiction - ever - it made people play stuff they aren't, instead of focusing on finding out what it is they'd need to be less bored with their loved ones.

But on topic: it's an individual, circumstancial question. Impossible to say definetly "this is the right one!" Doesn't work. And then I may endure less than a sewer in Bangladesh before I riot. Some need a harder kick before they get their asses moving...

a reply to: Peeple

I...um...okay then.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Taupin Desciple

Define authority please.

Authority is the ultimate threat… if you don't obey.
If you for instance don't pay tour tax because some amount of that goes to build bombs that drop on foreign lands and you carry that resistance to authority far enough you will be tried and sentenced to jail where you may meet the Ultimate threat named Bubba.

Becoming Bubbas next victim is why you pay your tax, he is the ultimate punishment that makes your average earner comply.

Lol just made my day!

a reply to: TWA0918

Thank you TWA, and welcome to ATS!

Have a nice flight.

a reply to: Dark Ghost

You can see authorities as a threat, a threat to your own person. There were times where authority was quite discriminatory, and many were imprisoned and tortured for simply being shown to have contrary beliefs - we call this "persecution" and if you can see persecution, you know that it is wrong, and you know that those in authority are not acting in a wise or benevolent fashion. Eventually, you have to make a stand for what you deem to be right, however, if you are foolish and end up being punished, then you can say that you simply were not careful enough.

a reply to: Dark Ghost

some people will disobey based purely on the attitude on whoever commands them i would only obey my elders whom i am related to or my superior officers never a stranger or a tough guy trying to be pushy pussy is more like it