Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Individualism vs conformity
Conformity versus individuality
Conforming to social norms
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Individualism vs conformity
Individuality vs. Conformity: The Healthy Middle?
The persuasive essay, “Individuality vs. Conformity: The Healthy MIddle,” discusses, how there maybe a difference but maybe it is 50/50. He discusses and argues about where is the middle. In addition, he believes that people want to fit in but be different. The author supports her argument by justifying and defining about how it is human nature to want to be liked. In addition, to that people have a feeling of liquid fire going through there veins which is the natural feeling of someone feeling there need for individuality and people want to attain the status. The authors purpose is to persuade the readers, specifically high school students in order to show the healthy middle between conformity
and individuality, so people can live a healthy balanced life of the both of them without out it getting extremely “weird” or extremely fake. The author writes in a logical style for the reader to think about where is the healthy middle, and what is the healthy middle and others interested in the topic of conformity and individuality. I both agree and disagree with the author, because I believe that both sides can be debated. I disagree, because I do not believe there is no healthy middle. My reason for this is because I believe people in our generation are so tempted to keep up with things that trend that are overrated. People follow the trends which makes them all alike. I agree with this, because I believe that people can be there own person and build there own personality they choose to have. In addition, people can probably be different in their own way but dress the same as others, or have the same style.
The novel, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley first published in 1932, presents a very bleak out look of what future society will be like. The novel presents a future of where almost total conformity is a carefully guarded aspect of society. Even before one is "decanted" they are conditioned to fill a specific roll and to act a certain way.
It is very common to see conformity among young people, especially when large groups of young people are constantly around each other. School is one example where conformity is rampant. For some reason people tend to gravitate towards what others are doing. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, Never Let Me Go, the characters are no different from any other young person in that they tend to conform. Ishiguro shows this conformity to prove that conformity stems from the want to fit in and pure ignorance. At Hailsham, the students conform just to fit in with the rest of the students, but they also conform because they do not know any better.
In society, it's difficult to go against the norm. Individuals are compelled to act a specific way, or look a specific way in order to be accepted. For instance, teenagers may encounter pressure from their peers to partake in specific exercises that may not be moral, since they feel the need to fit in. This weight of conformity isn't just present in reality; it can be found in literature as well. The story "St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell depicts that in order to conform to society, individuals abandon their selflessness and compassion and become selfish and apathetic.
Pursuing a personal desire and choosing to conform to societal expectations is a challenging decision to make. A person must decide if their personal desire is worth risking the shame and judgment of others or is conforming the route to take because it is easier. When pursuing a personal desire one must ask itself if it is worth the hardship to accomplish one's desire or if it is best left alone and repressed, in hopes of finding comfort in conformity. John Laroche from The Orchid Thief expresses his personal desire without a care for conformity or societal expectations. Nevertheless, Laroche never stopped being strange as he grew up with fascinations of many objects such as orchids, turtles, old mirrors and fish tanks.
The Conformist directed by Bernardo Bertolucci follows the rise and fall of Italian Fascism, but tells it through the perspective of one man, Marcello Clerici. The narrative of the film is told through several non-sequential flashbacks that take place while Clerici and his chauffeur are driving to assassinate Professor Luca Quadri, a former professor of Clerici who is an exiled fascist. Clerici is a man of a troubled past and an uncertain future. He joined the Fascist secret police even though he doesn’t seem to really believe in Fascism and he’s marrying a woman that he doesn’t necessarily seem to love. All to have a life that appears normal. Marcello Clerici is a man imprisoned by his need to fit in, to appear socially and politically normal.
John Updike was born in Shillington, Pennsylvania on March 18, 1932. His father was a high school math teacher who supported the entire family, including his grandparents on his mothers side. As a child, Updike wanted to become a cartoonist because of The New Yorker magazine. He wrote articles and poems and kept a journal. John was an exceptional student and received a full scholarship to Harvard University. At Harvard he majored in English and became the editor of the Harvard newspaper. Upon graduation in 1954, he wrote his first story, Friends from Philadelphia, and sent it to The New Yorker. This started his career and he became one of the great award winning authors of our time.
It was the first day of school. I was eager to see most of my friends who I went to middle school with. There was one big thing that struck me; I noticed my friends changed. They started dressed differently, acted differently, changed their hair style, and even started wearing makeup. Since the transition fresh out of middle school and into high school, my friends wanted to look older. The biggest factor that bothered me was how they would conform to look like the sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I felt that my good friends wanted to conform and be something they weren’t. In my personal view, Americans in general want to feel mature sophisticated but also want to have fun. Individuality is essential because it allows people to express who they are as an individual. When people express themselves differently and in their own way, they elucidate uniqueness and universal truth. Values in American culture can contradict with family, fashion, and the workplace.
The socially accepted behaviour and self-presentation can be determined by analysing anyone, as they are all so strikingly similar that when they look around, they see “images of themselves in every direction”. After dropping off their children at college, the parents stand around near their cars, which is another symbol of their wealth, and when they look around, they see parts of themselves in others, as they are all a product of their self-perpetuating society. “They feel a sense of renewal, of communal recognition”, further highlighting their uniformity. All the parents are collectively referred to as a group, to emphasise their resemblance. The shared feeling of needing to conform that is shared by the parents is also shared by their children. The extensive list of branded items brought to college by the students indicates their own sense of conformity. It can be seen that this self-perpetuating culture is also cyclical, as the parents’ values and behaviours have been passed down to their children, and this will most likely be passed onto the next
Mark Twain once said, “A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away. He must have time to modify his shape.” This quote revolves around the idea of conformity. Conformity or collectivism is the tendency to align attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with those around you. It's a powerful force that can take the form of overt social pressure or subtler unconscious influence. As much as people think of themselves as individuals, the fact is that we're driven to fit in, and that usually means going with the flow. The problem with conformity or collectivism is the loss of individuality.
Conformity and Obedience in Society The desire to be accepted and belong to a group is an undeniable human need. But how does this need affect an individual? Social psychologists have conducted numerous experiments and concluded that, through various forms of social influence, groups can change their members’ thoughts, feelings, and behavior. In her essay “Group Minds,” Doris Lessing discusses our paradoxical ability to call ourselves individuals and our inability to realize that groups define and influence us.
As a student, I am often troubled by the rigid routines of the school day, despite the fact that I am actually a very habitual person. The constant ringing of bells, lectures, bellwork, classwork, homework, each a daily practice throughout the school year. Although all of these components promote conformity, which will ultimately support the balance of school and societal norms, they also tend to threaten each student’s own unique characteristics. This then poses the question; to what degree should schools encourage conformity versus individuality? Certainly, a level of conformity is required to achieve a balanced society however, the overall structure of the school day and class, including the methods used to teach and mandatory classes, is depriving students of their sense of independence by not allowing them to think for themselves and destroying their natural curiosity; therefore I believe schools need to place more emphasis on the individuality of students.
Elliot Aronson (2012) provides a definition of conformity, two social psychological processes that underlie a conformity and cited examples of reasons why people conform in the book, The Social Animal. Aronson (2012) defines a conformity as “a change in a person’s behavior or opinion as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people” (p.19). In accordance with Aronson’s (2012) definition of conformity, people do conform owing to the social influence, which are two main social psychological processes: belonging and getting information.
Conformity, or going along with the crowd, is a unique phenomenon that manifests itself in our thoughts and behaviors. It’s quite simple to identify countless examples of the power of conformity in virtually all aspects of social life. Conformity influences our opinions and relationships with others, often to a higher extent than we realize. It is posited that people generally conform to the group in order to fit in and avoid rejection or because they truly believe the group is more knowledgeable than they are. After analyzing numerous studies and experiments on the nature of conformity, one will find that the motive of social acceptance is the greatest driver of conformity.
Imagine living in a world where almost everyone lived the same lifestyle. Same cars, styles, and personalities, almost everything was the same. There was a set social norm and if you were different, you might have been judged for the way you lived. You feel the need to change your lifestyle in order to fit in with the world’s “social norm”. There is a pressure from the people around you or the town/city that you live in. Now it is highly encouraged to be different amongst the rest of the people to stand out. However, before being “different”, many people felt the need to conform to society’s norm. In the books The Sun Also Rises and Babbitt, social conformity plays a huge role in their storylines. The term social conformity is a society or
Individuality and conformity both play a major role in society. No matter what it may be individuals will need to choose appropriately between conforming and acting individualistically about their situation. Individuality allows individuals to freely express themselves while conformity offers safety under the protection of other conformers. Both of these aspects are beneficial to many individuals and is a key to maintaining societal order; however, it is disastrous to have too much of either side of the spectrum. Therefore, there should be a balance between individuality and conformity because having too much of either side morally and physically harms components of society, such that it pressures and forces individuals to do tasks against their will, and causes individuals to think selfishly and worry solely about themselves.