Fragmented authorization lets each actor disclaim responsibility for the outcome

Evidence

Systems in which activities are fractionated and carried out under obfuscating authorization provide a fertile ground for vindicating personal responsibility by structural means. Testifying before the Senate, the producer Ivor Tors described his frustration at trying to pin down who authorized a network directive to inject more sex and violence into his programs: “Mr. Daly said that this came from Mr. Levy, but Mr. Levy at that time received instructions from Mr. Kintner. Again I have no firsthand knowledge whose suggestions it was. I knew only that I was told to put sex and violence in my show” Sometimes a faceless executive entity located in another city is the authorizer. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 846

Categorization

• XREF: Direct corroboration of the dislocation-of-responsibility mechanism whereby ordinary people can rationalize supporting harmful policy because no single node feels causally responsible.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 846