The term
What Milgram meant by the agentic state
Milgram's term for the felt shift in which a person stops experiencing themselves as the author of an act and begins experiencing themselves as the instrument of someone else's decision. Guilt has nowhere to attach because the self that could refuse has, for the duration, been handed over.
That is how The Machinery of Compliance defines it — a free, source-checked book on coercive control by Willow Whitman, published here in full with its notes.
In the book
Where agentic state is taken apart
Free to read in full, each chapter with its sources.
- The Machinery of ComplianceCompliance is not a character flaw but a machine with identifiable parts — and the same parts assemble the same way whether the hand on the switch belongs to…
- How Ordinary People Live With ItOrdinary people cause serious harm without abandoning their morals — a fixed set of maneuvers lets each act be filed as the exception — and the systems…
Asked and answered
Questions
What is agentic state?
Milgram's term for the felt shift in which a person stops experiencing themselves as the author of an act and begins experiencing themselves as the instrument of someone else's decision. Guilt has nowhere to attach because the self that could refuse has, for the duration, been handed over.
Where does The Machinery of Compliance cover agentic state?
It is treated across 2 chapters of the book, all free to read in full. The closest treatment is Chapter One: The Machinery of Compliance.
Related: Gaslighting · DARVO · Traumatic bonding · Learned helplessness · Zersetzung
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