Is it is ever acceptable to obey without question? As we have seen, the extent to which someone will do this may be culturally dependent.

One subculture within all cultures that shows extremely high PDI scores is in military organizations (and to a lesser extent police forces). These subgroups are normally made up of willing young men and women who have volunteered to be a part of a rigid and hierarchical culture.

Alfred Tennyson’s 1889 poem The Charge of the Light Brigade, declared that “Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die”. Tennyson was writing about the common soldier who was to obey orders no matter what the consequences. Even in western nations, now exhibiting a low PDI score, it was once considered noble and courageous to go blindly to your death if ordered to do so by a superior. This drastically dierent subculture is why the military and police communities are very interesting to social psychologists.

What personality traits do you consider ideal for military service? Do you believe soldiers are born or made?

How are new recruits socialized into the military culture?