Conformity In Today's Society

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Webster’s dictionary defines conformity in two ways, the first being, “Compliance with standards, rules, or laws.” The second is, “Behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions and standards.” Both of these definitions are saying the same thing, though, defining conformity as basically, a silent agreement to comply and behave in a way that society decides is acceptable. Colin Wilson was completely correct in his statement, "The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain." In today’s society, there is actually an alarming rise in conformity compared to the previous generations, and I feel as though that has a great deal to do with the ways in which human nature is …show more content…

Individuality is most commonly referred to as the qualities that make a person or a thing different from things of the same kind. There was a brief point in history where people’s differences were actually separated, but recently, society has developed in such a way that almost every major difference that a person could have has developed its own community- so even the uniqueness has been taken away from most things that used to be considered special. The identity of our youth is being decided by modern celebrities, television shows, movies and all forms of advertisement. Society has decided what the parameters for the idea of normal are- and has made it clear that all people who decide to drastically step out of that conformity are to be socially exiled. Being different is no longer something that is considered positive. In order to actually fit in, you have to pick a category- and design yourself to fit into whatever that category requires. It has been proven time and time again that adolescents need positive reinforcement in order to feel like they are successful. It is not enough for someone to tell them that what they are doing is decent, or that they are unique. Teenagers need someone to outright make them feel as though they have reached the standard of normality. Individuality has been completely torn down. It was once an incredible thing to stand out among the crowd, and have the ability to say you had more to offer than everyone else- that you had the potential to become a leader. All of the positive connotation associated with individuality, though, has been eliminated, and the youth of today’s society are left believing that the only true way to be happy is to achieve popularity, and fit in with those around

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