Authority's Power

The power of authority is an extremely overwhelming force that is hard to overcome. It seems that people do not follow authority for multiple reasons but I think it mostly has to do with morals and the amount of respect towards the authority official. If a person does not have respect for someone who has power, they are probably not going to follow them unless there are other forces that will persuade the individual to follow them (money, law, punishment, etc.). Respect comes from somewhere, it just is not there from the get go. It is almost like it is earned in a way, through experience, show (uniforms and shiny badges), levels of legitimacy, and many more. If I see a cop I will not break any law in front of them unless they lose my respect towards them, such as if they break the law themselves. If they kill or beat up an innocent person, I would hope my morals would then tackle their authority and I would do the "right" thing and stand up for the victim. Authority usually comes with a price as well. This means that people usually look up to people with authority and expect greater things out of them. If they see them screw up at something, that is what hurts authority and law the most because if the public does not see them as legitimate, then why should anybody follow them. Punishment also allows the authority to keep respect because if you follow the law, they will leave you alone and if you don't then that is when they will be knocking on your door. The amount of authority definitely correlates directly with how legitimate they are either through morals or experience. People will follow if they are legitimate.