Stanley Milgram is one of the most important figures in the history of social psychology in America. He is best known for his controversial experiment on obedience conducted in the 1960s. In The Experience of Living in Cities, he talked about the primary living situation of cities through psychological aspects of life, using several facts, examples, and inquiries to show that how people cope with overload issue in cities, and how people respond to each other when it comes to social responsibilities or ethnic problems in great and fast-paced cities.

“Further, it is known that her cries for help were not directed to a specific person; they were general, but only individuals can act. And as the cries were not specifically directed, no particular person felt a special responsibility. The crime and the failure of community response seem absurd to us…The larger the number of bystanders, the less the likelihood that any one of them will intervene in an emergency.” This is very notable and thought-provoking to me. What kind of unbearable social responsibility people have on the shoulders? Why can’t they shout out loud to help people who in need? People become silent and step way back behind the line when facing issues that have nothing to do with them. Simply just no one start, no one follow. Indeed, like such a cry for a general help, who would consider it as their own business to handle and to care. A great majority of people follow a sepcific command. Because of the silence wall of people, crimes are easy to commit. Confronting living in an unfair city environment, people who are in silence should feel guilty and shame. Every one of them can escape the responsibility, however, since it is a huge number of people that there is nothing can do to investigate. Less intervening in emergencies not only appear in accidents, but also in classes, buses, or subways and so on. It is rooted in everyone’s mind. Therefore, for those people who cannot even take care of their personal lives, so how they can be expected to intervene in the bigger community in great cities. Not even to talk about social responsibility.

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