Society's Individuality

611 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social virtue

Currently, there are many discussions regarding society’s views on how a “good” person should act. For example, in one society going to war may be viewed as a patriotic act, while in another society it may be viewed negatively because it can be seen as an act promoting violence. Furthermore, there are flaws in always conforming to society’s standards because it takes away one’s individuality. These topics are raised in the “Unknown Citizen” which is a poem by W.H. Auden that describes a man who is viewed by society as a perfect person and also in “Do Not Go Gently” by Dylan Thomas where he urges society to not accept death and fight it. As a result, there are actions that society declares as being righteous, but it is also important that people follow their own intuition because that way they become their own person.
In both the “Unknown Citizen” and “Do Not Go Gently,” the authors give an impression of what a virtuous person is. For example, in the work, “Unknown Citizen,” the unknown man is reported to be perfect in every way and does absolutely no wrong. In fact, it was stated t...

Show More
Related

  • Be Warned and Study Justice:The Shifting Definition of Justice in Virgil’s Aeneid

    4362 Words  | 9 Pages

    Often, a person is seen as the embodiment of the value of their action, thus a person can be seen as “good” or “bad,” and the consequences of justice that affect them are based on the general value of their general actions. The value given to actions is based on a soc...

    Read More

  • Susan Griffin’s Our Secret and the Film Babel

    2150 Words  | 5 Pages

    The idea that a single person’s actions can resonate and intrude into other people’s lives is a concept not often though about. Being that each of us has our own individual life to worry about, it is hard to imagine that we are all deeply interconnected to others within the human race. We often tend to only think of ourselves and our immediate families; disregarding our relationship to everyone else in this world. Each one of us holds a position in life in which we all influence one or more persons. Depending on the amount of a power a person holds certain people can influence an even wider range of others. These positions do not always have to do with a career or a job, as socioeconomic positions are fair play in this world (a rich man of resources exudes more power and influence than a homeless man). Even though those who hold more power in society actions and personality can also influences more people than one may think. A person’s occupation can also establish a connection with others which allows for influence. Since people are highly interconnected to others and their surroundings, we must approach the decisions we make with regard to the preservation of morality. Certainly we have law, however it is the duty of the people to make the right choices and to teach doctrines that do not threaten or hurt others. Individuals yield more power than they think they do, as many are influenced by the ways that others approach things. In Susan Griffin’s “Our Secret” and the critically acclaimed film “Babel”, the way in which people are connected seems to be a consistent theme though out both of the texts. In these works we see how the actions or decisions of a single person can influence and corrupt the lives of many.

    Read More

  • Individuality

    624 Words  | 2 Pages

    Individuality is a characteristic that sets you apart from everyone else. The author Tim O’Brien illustrates this through Rat Kiley, Kiowa and Mary Anne in his novel, The Things They Carried. Individuality shows the personality of a character, reveals the link between personality and the physical items the soldiers carried, and how individuality is used to create teamwork.

    Read More

  • Collectivism versus Individualism

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is human nature to see those who are different and group them into distinct categories. The distinction of Individualism versus Collectivism is one that is currently being studied extensively. On one side, individualism sees individuals as the fundamental unit of a society. Individuals are supposed to be unique, independent, and most importantly, willing to put their own interests above all others. On the other hand, collectivism views the basic building block of society as social groups, stressing the interpersonal bonds between people. Collectivist values dictate that group goals and values have higher precedence than an individual’s. Due to the seemingly polar opposite nature of these ideologies, it is inevitable that they will be compared to see which is more beneficial to the country and its people. Some might point to the success of the US, an extremely individualistic country, in support of individualistic values. They will point to the freedom of choice and diversity that individualism boasts of. Others stress the flaws of the US in response, and while both sides do have their truths, the costs that come with individualistic values are too great to be ignored. Highly individualistic attitudes have caused many large scale problems which have long been identified as difficult to resolve issues. These problems include, but are not limited to, promoting aggressive acts, creating an obsession with social power, and allowing a system of injustice to be born.

    Read More

  • Essay On Individualism

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thoreau, Henry David, and Jeffrey S. Cramer. Walden : A Fully Annotated Edition. New Haven:

    Read More

  • Individualism And Collectivism Essay

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hypothesis: “We hypothesize that the performance of individual members in such situations is likely to be highest when the members hold both individualist and collectivist orientations toward their work” (Hollenbeck, Humphrey, Meyer, Wagner, 2012, pg. 947).

    Read More

  • American Individualism and How It Has Envolved

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    Think back to the 1800’s when slavery existed. The owners of the slaves treated them like animals. The slaves were just doing what they were told to do or else they knew that there would be punishment. They could not really show who they really were. If they were funny, shy, or maybe even artistic. No one got to see the real side of the slaves. As the years went on society really started establishing individualism more and more.

    Read More

  • Social Norms in Society

    1041 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many things that influence our behavior from internal influences to social norms. Social norms are implicit or explicit rules that govern how we behave in society (Maluso, class notes). Social norms influence our behavior more than any of us realize but we all notice when a norm has been broken. Breaking a social norm is not an easy task and often leads us feeling uncomfortable whether we broke the norm ourselves or witnessed someone else breaking it. Sometimes however, you just have to break a norm to see what happens.

    Read More

  • A Reflection Of The Interaction Between Self And Society

    1620 Words  | 4 Pages

    Before taking this class, my understanding between each individual and the whole society is that every individuals as the gear are connected together to become a society like a machine. That is, human beings build the society. However, the class gave me bigger view of the relationship between the people and the society. Discussing about the relationship between me and the broader social world is based on how all human beings and the broader social world effect together. Thus, I am going to show my understanding from the class and reading about the interaction between each individual and the whole society.

    Read More

  • Essay On Collectivism And Individualism

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    Culture forms the framework for our thoughts and behavior and is defined as sets of values and principles individuals have about how nature and society work, as well as the norms of behavior, derived from that set of values (Gorodnichenko & Roland, 2014). According to Heine (2012), cultures that are individualistic include a variety of customs that encourage individuals to place their own personal goals ahead of those of the collective. In contrast, cultures that are collectivistic include many cultural practices, institutions, and customs that encourage individuals to place more emphasis on collective goals. Furthermore, the dimensions of collectivism and individualism help us to understand cultural differences in a wide variety of psychological

    Read More

  • Essay On Individualism Vs Collectivism

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    Retaining work relationships with peers and subordinates is considered to be an essential aspect of effective leadership. Leaders/managers should be able to recognize and understand their co-worker’s/supervisor’s strengths, weaknesses, personality types and preferred way of communication. This often results in productive collaboration of the organization leading to the accomplishment of the desired goals. Leaders should also be able to manage diversity at their workplace. Diversity generally strengthens the organization and a diverse workforce is a key to success. “A diverse workforce can deliver better decision making, better products and services, happier customers, increased productivity and a better bottom line” (Kampf, 2011, p. 44). However,

    Read More

  • Essay On Individualism And Collectivism

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    Civilizations are typically broken up into two categories: collectivist. Individualist cultures, like those of the United States and Western Europe, highlight personal accomplishment regardless of the expense of team goals, causing a powerful awareness of competition. Collectivist cultures, including these of China, Korea, and Asia, emphasize work and family team aims above desires or individual needs.

    Read More

  • Richard Koch Individualism

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Colors of Our World German theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein once said, “It is important to foster individuality, for only the individual can produce the new ideas”. There’s two types of people in this world. You have one who conforms and follows others, and then you have one who strives for greatness, and embraces individuality. Conforming and blending in with others is more fatal than it seems. People who conform get lost in the roller coaster one calls life, and lose sight of who one truly is.

    Read More

  • Individualism

    440 Words  | 1 Pages

    Many characteristics may create one’s individualism. Personality, appearance, environment, and heredity are the characteristics that make up one’s individuality. One can control the individual he may become with the help of individualism.

    Read More

  • Individualism And Collectivism Essay

    1842 Words  | 4 Pages

    On chapter 4 on the textbook, the author explains, “culture provides a member of a society with a common bond, a sense that we see certain facets of society in similar ways. We are living together at all depends on the fact that members of a society share a certain amount of cultural knowledge (Ch4, 132). Individualism and collectivism contribute greatly to the dimension of culture. For example, how many members of the culture define themselves apart from their group memberships. In individualist cultures, people are expected to develop and display their individual personalities and to choose their own affiliations. In collectivist cultures, people are defined and act mostly as a member of a long-term group, such as the family, a religious group, an age cohort, a town, or a profession, among others. This dimension was found to move towards the individualist end of the spectrum with increasing

    Read More

More about Society's Individuality

Open Document