An Army Of One Me Analysis

It is said by many in the psychological fields that self-actualization can only come from within, and this is accepted as folk wisdom by society at large. You can’t run away from yourself is a common axiom. We all intuitively understand that the keys to self-actualization and self-improvement don’t lie with more money or a new home in a new location, but in consistent self-improvement driven by humility and appreciation. Having said that, we must understand that environment and tools available for ones disposal nonetheless retain a role in self-actualization; after all, lest an individual be left in a dark hole in the ground, no amount of internal progress can make him into a self-actualized, productive member of society.

“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him... We need not wait to see what others do.” — Mahatma Gandhi

The texts “Manhood,” by John Wain and “How Not to Get Into College,” by Alfie Kohn illustrate similarities and differences that are directly related to the lives of people in today’s society. Both texts represent the idea of rigid social expectations challenging people to re-evaluate their perspectives on intrinsic happiness and to live up to others’ standards in order to gain approval of happiness, resulting in extrinsic happiness. In “Manhood”, the rigid social expectations are portrayed thorough the relationship between father and son and in “How Not to Get into college” they are portrayed through the scenarios of students.

Nowadays, some people have strong opinions on the increasingly problems caused by the Generation Me because of their high self-esteem. Jean Twenge analyzes the self-esteem in her essay “An Army of One: Me”, and she sheds light on the difference between baby boomers and the generation me, making us to rethink why self-esteem is such a severe problem to the generation me, but benefit the boomers. Though it may sounds hard to understand what causes the difference, but by viewing Maggie Nelson’s essay “Great to Watch”, we can get some new ideas. Nelson points out the importance of making “slow thinking”, which means thinking carefully before rush into taking actions. The reason behind slow thinking is that people are too easy to be distracted from

In a society where the concept of ‘self’ is removed and ‘selflessness’ is the moral good, the pursuit and attainment of personal happiness is evil. Individuals seeking happiness live a tortured existence; filled with persecution and guilt. “We, Equality 7-2521, were not happy in those years in the Home of the Students. It was not that the learning was too hard for us. It was that the learning was too easy. This is a great sin, to be born with a head which is too quick. It is not good to be different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them. The Teachers told us so, and they frowned when they looked upon us.” (Rand 4) Equality 7-2521 struggles with the fact that he has attributes that set him aside from the rest of the collective. In a society of equals, there

We are all factory workers in some sense – each and every one of us. As individuals, we each have our unique ambitions, quirks, and moral compasses; however, we coexist together in institutions to create the same products of prejudice, despite our characteristic differences. In one instance, Wall Street and Ivy League universities in Karen Ho’s “The Biographies of Hegemony” employ countless undergraduates of various backgrounds to sustain an unhealthy environment of elitism. Similar ethical malpractice also extends to the voracious pharmaceutical companies in Ethan Watters’ “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan” with various types of researchers and marketing scholars under their umbrella. The hegemony perpetuated by these systems are not just limited to humans, as in Charles Siebert’s “An Elephant Crackup?” the elephant society is severely oppressed by government agencies who acted as a direct consequence to the behaviors of hunters and poachers. In such institutions, there can exist two distinct groups of individuals: those who enter a larger system with the malicious intent to subjugate others, and those who enter with a fervent desire to advance society. Tragically, because institutions are intrinsically materialistic and parochial in nature, both groups of individuals would regardless contribute to a product of inequality and ethical misconduct under these systems of hegemony.

The first aspect to point out is that it is profitable to have an updated mind. An updated mind could have a great role in a person's social prestige, which contributes to his success in his career. Technology and the ease of internet has made the world a global village. It is easy to get aware of the latest News news in a glimpsglimpse of eyes . Therefore, if one does not

Throughout the course of history it is evident that the values of society have dramatically changed over the years. The values that people posses change depending on what’s occurring around the world at the time, whether a fierce, bloody war resulting from a calamity or a time of peace and renaissance. The choices people make can either help change society for the better or they can help bring society down. Many different factors lead to the events that can change entire societies such as education or discrimination, both of which can have negative repercussions.

Humans are judgmental creatures. One of our most significant philosophy is “not judging a book by its cover”, which examines our habit to judge. We did not purposely develop this questionable characteristic; we seem to have been with this evolutionary trait. We judge everything as a survival instinct to protect ourselves; the perception we create from our personal opinions determine whether we believe something is friendly or foe. As with everything, we judge ourselves, and we tend to be our biggest critic. We constantly judge ourselves, but why? People have referred to this type of judgement as self-esteem. Self-esteem is measured by how positive we view ourselves: the more positive our perception of our self, the higher our self-esteem and

The Happiness Conspiracy author John F. Schumaker presents his views on consumerism when he claims “Personal happiness is big business and everyone is selling it”. This reveals that the author feels that we in society tend to

Self-awareness involves the ability to understand and evaluate your own emotions through reflection, self-comparisons and feedback from others (Steiner, 2014). Self-awareness aims at enhancing self-knowledge, behavioral, and emotional improvements, and accommodating weaknesses (Steiner, 2014). It allows individuals to understand how they think, behave, and respond to situations that they encounter. To achieve this, feedback from other people is required. People who are self-aware are self-driven, resourceful, eager to learn, self-motivated, and problem-solvers. They also portray independence of self-concept (Steiner, 2014). Self-awareness helps an individual to practice effective self-management.

This part will discuss self-awareness and continuous self-development through analyzing a number of prior researches, then come up with the link of them to support my role as a manager in the future.

People today blame themselves more and more for every bad thing or "troubles" they have on personal fault rather then looking towards the social issue (Mills 1959, pg.1). In the article The Promise C. Wright Mills' say that "the individual can understand his own experience and gauge his own fate only by locating himself within his period, that he can know his own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in his circumstances" (Mills 1959, pg.2). This means that people can understand themselves better if they look past themselves and start looking at in conditions as a whole, not just blaming yourself but seeing that there is a problem in the society and you cannot necessarily

There is a large portion of the self-improvement industry today that is providing people with only these superficial and temporary 'feel good ' experiences and 'entertainment ' rather than true and enduring self-improvement and genuine self-discovery.

I certify that this literature review is my own work and contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any degree or diploma in any institute, college or university. Moreover, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the dissertation.