This thread is inspired by another: view original post
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=social+experiment
Watch some of these, or even just read the titles, and tell me what you think.
[spoiler]I think they are exploitative. For example, every video I've seen involving extremes of classes juxtaposes a supposedly good-natured homeless person with middle/upper class folk in various situations and ends up presenting the latter as apathetic or snobbish. Not only that, but I think they're inherently exploitative to the subjects of the "experiments", because it's their reactions (or non reactions) which are being used by the authors of these experiments as "evidence" to drive the underlying cause.
Furthermore, when coupled with the fact that they're often posted on YouTube, they come across as simply being a pretext for entertainment value, consequently exploiting a given issue for a poster's own benefit: popularity, views, and money.[/spoiler]
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Usually they are done to see how a group of people reacts. In sociology its important to know how people react so that when we construct our future we know what will make society better. On the darker scale of this, knowing how people react can be used as a tool for manipulation in order for an individual to get what they want while taking advantage of people. It all depends on who is conducting the experiment.