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Individuality vs conformity in society
Individuality vs conformity in society
Individuality and conformity
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The author did not make any mistakes, that I am aware of, in his article. A part of this essay that I did not like was that, the author stated his opinion so early in the text. Once I read that he did not agree with my own opinion I started to get defensive, and I did not care as much about what he thought
Model Details An agent-based model was constructed to explore the emergence of trends each year as a function of varying levels of conformity in individuals. In the model, agents choose between two styles of facial hair (beard or non-beard) based on one of the two conformity strategies. Some of the agents are conformists; these agents adopt the most popular style of facial hair with probability p, where p is the proportion of agents who have adopted the most popular style. Other agents are “hipsters”; these agents adopt the most popular style with probability (1-p), where p is the proportion of agents who have adopted the most popular style.
Often times when a person is forced to outwardly conform while questioning themselves it leads to a struggle between their inner selves and what is expected of them. Outward conformity often oppresses a character’s true feelings of loneliness and being misunderstood. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, leads a dissatisfactory life. She is stuck in a loveless marriage, and has children, all in an attempt to conform to the social norm of the Victorian woman. However, she inwardly questions whether or not she should try to break free from this life to find her own independence and happiness.
The environment in which an individual grows up in can affect life greatly. Our surroundings influence one’s personality, self-expression, and individuality, otherwise known as identity. Finding one’s true self is the most grueling stage of life and expectations of family and society make the process even harder. One’s true identity can sometimes clash with hopes of others, thus breaking tradition and/or family ties. Pressure to change will always be present, but staying true to uniqueness will prevail.
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a dystopian novel depicting a society where individual freedom and creativity are sacrificed to achieve stability and happiness. The story takes place in a futuristic world where the government controls every aspect of people's lives, from their birth to their death. The novel explores the dangers and wrong doings of a society that values conformity over individuality and self expression and the consequences of a world where technology has replaced human connection. The novel's central character is Bernard Marx, an Alpha Plus who is dissatisfied with the world he lives in. He feels like an outsider and is constantly searching for something more meaningful in his life.
How others see you is influenced by material, social, and physical constraints. This causes a tension between how much control you have in constructing your own identity and how much control or constraint is exercised over you. How we see ourselves and how others see us differ in many ways, but is an important factor of our identity. “A Lesson Before Dying”,
Although Sparknotes offers a concise summary of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, it lacks important character details that are crucial to understanding the individuality of each characters desire for change within the World State. For instance, Bernard Marx’s outsider status fuels his selfish desire for power, not change. By only watching the SparkNotes video summary, readers do not get a close look at why Bernard wants change, and may confuse his egocentric greed as a desire for individuality and advancement of the society. In actuality, after Bernard was blessed with social success, his discontentment with the society disappeared. In a conversation with his friend, Helmholtz Watson, readers learn, “Success went fizzily to Bernard's head, and in the process completely reconciled him” (Huxley, Ch 11) with his dissatisfaction of
The idea of achieving the ideal society has been embedded in many minds for centuries, society has tried many tactics that will further the path towards a utopian society. Oftentimes society encounters the conflicting factors between individual autonomy and freedom and the stability and security of civilization, which is essentially a conflict between individualism and collectivism. In the novel “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, it is suggested that constraining the innocuous views of each individual can allow for the achievement of complete stability within society; nevertheless with complete stability we will experience a totalitarian control over each individual, which is far from the Utopia we desire. Stability brings many positive aspects to our society, including peace, operating as a collective and no poverty; however we will never be able to experience true emotions, there will be a sacrifice of individual identity, and we can all be easily replaced. Without the right to make choices we are essentially slaves to society, every aspect of our individuality will become non-existent, we will have no identity.
For an utopian society to exist, there needs to be a merging of conformity and individualism in the society. Pure individualism or pure conformity in a society leads to a lopsided and corrupted society; they need to exist in synchrony. In Merry Mount, the people follow an ideology of complete freedom of thought and of individualism. The Puritan’s society shows what happens when everyone conforms and no one expresses their individual beliefs. When the ideologies of conformity and individualism merge it combines into a greater society as a whole, better than either of the individual half’s.
She argues that what makes us uncomfortable in our lives is exactly the opposite of what we think it is. We are not scared that we don’t measure up to societal, familial, or personal standards. Quite the contrary - we are fearful that we exceed the expectations. The reason it frightens us so, according to her, is that we have the notion that standing out for what makes us unique will cause people around us to feel inhibited. From her perspective, that isn’t the case at all.
Social structure and personality perspective primarily focuses on the influences among larger social circumstances and the person within the condition. The social circumstances like a co-worker obtaining a higher status by getting promoted follow the expectations through the guidelines of behavior within certain social situations; it is typically the way that are expected to act when they reside in certain roles and statuses. Due to society’s stability, people who study society can therefore more accurately and reliably predict a persons beliefs, mindsets, and actions in any given setting. There are three principles that can be applied to social structure and personality: components principle, proximity principle, and psychology principle.
Why would break the rules when you can follow them and have more knowledge. Some people say nonconformity is similar to conforming, but in my opinion nonconformity is different than conforming in many ways. I believe nonconformity is not another way of comforming. They have two different meanings and are the opposite of each other. One is a good thing and the other is more of a don 't go to zone.
Commonly people dream and produce ideals that distinguish them from another, but sadly, this generation compresses everyone to a certain standard. This world emphasizes on what a person may lack rather than applaud one for what has been achieved. The stress that society puts on being perfect could not be found in the simplicity of nature. Separated from the distracting details of life, does a person truly discover themselves as an individual. Nature is composed of substantial amounts of elements, but portrays itself to be truly simplistic.
In The Pedestrian, Ray Bradbury develops Leonard Mead’s character trait of individuality by gradually showing the distant relation between his actions and the rest of society’s norms. One example of this comes early on in the story, “…to put your feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams and make your way, hands in pockets, through the silences…” (Bradbury) Bradbruy uses these minute details about Mead’s surroundings to give the reader an indication of just how little human interaction and socialization Mead’s society has. As shown at the beginning of the quote, “… to put your feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams…” the descriptions of the sidewalk give the reader an image of the setting— run-down, uncut weeds, Bradbury provides us with no sensory words to indicate movement outside.
In today's society, the balance between individualism and conformity to society's expectations is a prominent and deceptive conflict. Oftentimes, the individual must put his uniqueness aside and settle for a view of an occupation, hobby, or idea that society agrees with. Instead of expressing original and creative ideas, they are held hostage by comparing themselves with the lives and accomplishments of others and the standards their our society. One of the biggest tools of society, social media, allows people to share ideas and interests with everyone. However, naturally, one will only post what he knows others will accept and enjoy just as he does.