Difference Between Conformity And Individuality

Throughout history, many have tried to break away from society's norms in an attempt to live life more fully, one example would be Rosa Parks when she stood up for her rights and didn't move to the back of the bus like society has shaped the laws back then. As a result of this incident, Parks ended up getting arrested and sent to court for not following the law. In contrast, some may choose to follow the rules of others thinking that’s their best decision. An example of this figure would be Boxer from the book Animal Farm, when he adopted his first motto “ I will work harder” (Orwell 18) after the first harvest following the Rebellion. Boxer never knew about the advantage Napoleon was taking on towards him,

According to Webster Dictionary, conformity is defined as, “in compliance of rules, laws, or standards.” Mark Twain’s, “Cone-pone Opinions,” demonstrates how society reacts to new conformities; individuals eventually conform to popular ideas and inevitably abandon these ideas for something greater. Twain states, “It is our nature to conform; it is force which not many can successfully resist.” (Twain 2). The reason people conform is not for self-approval, but rather, for the approval of others.

Conformity is better than individualism as in the communities are safer. The novel The Giver by Lois Lowry tells us about their conformitized community. Jonas, on page 63, says to the reader that the community is extremely protective of every one in the community and that

Furthermore, people conform because they have a sense belonging. Others conform because they’re afraid, and when people do this they become similar to each other. A way this is shown in The Hunger Games is when the people show angst among the peacekeepers. In America people are scared of how others will react to their opinion on things. In the book, if people show disobedience to the peacekeepers then the peacekeepers will hurt them. In contrast, when people in America share an opinion that is

In the essay, The Sociology of Leopard Man, by Logan Feys, he argues that individuality can be affected by the pressures that society puts on people. I thoroughly agree with that statement, but not for every situation. One reason why I agree with Feys is because he mentioned how often the pressures of society affect us and he was completely correct. Feys says “Living in society, we are under constant pressure to surrender our individuality to the will of the majority, the school, the workplace, the family, etc." (6) when he explains how many environments we are in every day that affect us and how we present ourselves. We feel the need to be professional and presentable when we are in the workplace, but when we are at school or with a group of our peers we feel like we need to conform to what everyone else looks like in order to fit in which is a result of these social pressures. This observation helps support my main idea by showing how common these social pressures actually are and how easily they slip

“Living in society, we are under constant pressure to surrender our individuality to the will of the majority, the school, the workplace, the family, etc.” (Feys, P.6). Logan Feys, the author of “The Sociology of Leopard Man”, states that society is persistently under pressure to change our individual likings, personality, change the way we look, etc. to feel accepted and approved by society. The desire to fit in and not be an outsider with social groups causes people to feel pressured and change themselves to fit in. Fey’s statement is correct that people conform with society to not be an outsider or avoid the fear of possibly being an outsider.

We must decide for ourselves whether to conform to such a social etiquette. We are taught as soon as we are old enough to grasp the idea that it is bad to be unique and to avoid being different. At some point, however, we must decide within ourselves whether to spend every day trying to be like everyone else because society says we should or living each day true to ourselves. Our strength as a person is proven through what we decide. The benefits of being true to ourselves greatly outweigh any negative aspects of choosing that path.

John F. Kennedy once said, “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”. This has been a puzzling idea for many; most of us are grown into some form of conformity at one time or another. At what point does following the rules become wrong? When is it too much? Over the years many people begin to question what the acts of following the crowd can mean; whether or not we need these orders, and structures to function; or whether it’s really worth losing yourself just to make everybody else happy. When does it become too much? And once is does, how do we break the cycle? This topic has been used throughout many different mediums; films, and literature, all alluding to the signs, and actions of when conformity is doing nothing

Conformity is a form of social influence, when we conform we act and think like members of our group. Often people even alter or change their personal beliefs to match those around them. When we conform we feel pressured to fit in with others, to be a part of the majority. While we may still have contradicting beliefs towards things, we change our behaviors and actions to match what everybody else is

Conformity exists to satisfy the insecurity of others. For instance, Cyrano creates a facade hide his insecurity. “Me whom the plainest woman would despise- Me, with this nose of mine that marches on Before me by a quarter of

An issue that has been circulating is whether or not to conform. Rob Siltanen says, “... The ones who see things differently. They 're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can 't do is ignore them. Because they change thing.[...]” ( cited) What he says is agreeable because the one that does not conform, will be the one that changes themselves,their society and even their future. This matter is an open topic of debate because one may agree that an individual does not need to conform to society 's ideals in order to find their happiness or be successful in life.

We conform because we want to fit in and feel accepted. Unfortunately, by conforming, we allow others to shape our personalities, behavior and thoughts, taking away our ability to be ourselves. The principle of Emerson’s quote is true: joining a society does indeed take away our liberties and individualism. It is up to us to try to live up to Emerson’s statement of ideal behavior, ““It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of

Social conformity is a dangerous, chaotic force. A simple gathering can spontaneously lead to surges of violence and atrocities. As one stone is thrown, another follows, each one faster than the last. They have muddied their identity into a mob. Social conformity is the suppression of one’s thoughts and identity to conform to the herd.

To understand why we have a sense of conformity, we must first understand value. “Values are used to learn people’s culture, ideas, and what they want out of life (Henslin 49). Every culture has similar and different values. “Norms are the expectations a group develops concerning the ‘right’ way to reflects its values” (Henslin49). An example of a norm would be personal space and speaking quietly in certain places such as a library. When norms are violated people often begin to question the person’s sanity and well-being based on how extreme the norm violation was.

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion.” As human beings, we always encounter the critical decision in our daily lives of whether to pursue individuality or conformity in various situations. Although I believe that individuality is certainly more powerful than conformity, I noticed that many ignore the necessity of harmony between individualism and conformity. If individuality is absolutely more powerful to the point that we should never accept conformity, then should we avoid conforming to the laws of our country and instead commit multiple crimes simply because we want to? On the other