Nonconformity: Is It a Myth?
In the world which all people live in there is an ongoing misconception of a key human idea. This is whether conformity is the pure ideal of all humans or nonconformity exists as a way to counteract the overflow of constant societal conformity. People out in the world can do crazy things and some people such as Tom Leppard, also know as , “The Leopard Man” push towards the idea of fighting against society in a war to gain self individuality.Even though it is possible for people to be externally a nonconformist, it is human instinct to give in to the will of the majority and no degree of nonconformity could go against it.
There are lots of articles discussing this topic and there are a few specific ones that stand out. In the article “You Are a Conformist (That Is, You Are Human)” by Noam Shpancer, it shows the pros of conformity of society by using facts and other conducted experiments.In his article Shpancer states that “ Recent research shows that social disapproval provokes the brain’s danger circuits. Conformity soothes”(Shpancer, par.
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He says “Be psychologically free and strong enough to live independently, leaving society and entering society on no one’s terms but your own” (Feys, par#10). This gives the audience an emotional conclusion that shows them that Feys’ ideas aren’t so bad since he encourages us to do things in our own way. He looks like he supports the will of every individual person. However this is not what he is stating in his article. In his article he bashes on the people of society who conform with others by saying “ Conformity can be seen as the world’s most common but dangerous psychological disorder”(Feys, par. 6). This refutes his main idea that you can be a conformist on and off. He says that being a conformist in any way is like poison, it will consume you and destroy
Conformity, it’s something everyone deals with, even if they do not realize it. Although, what happens when conformity takes control over everything? What if the world was stripped of individuality, no citizen has any rights to hold on to, while not being able to think for one’s self. That is an image what it would be like if everyone in the world were to conform to a restricting society. Just think of all of the advances in technology the human race has come up with in the last ten years alone. None of that would have been possible in a society where no one can go above another person's IQ level. This is the world the characters in Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem live in. The reasons that total conformity is dangerous is because individuality is not possible, no family history, and advancement would not be possible.
In “The Leopard Man,” Feys’ explains conformity as “the world’s most prevalent and most pernicious psychological disorder. The consequences of it are no less than the suppression and destruction of one’s self” (1). The text evidence show Feys’ point of view on how conformity can be a good or bad thing. The direct quote also illuminates how conformity can lead to one being less of him or herself. Jackson, the author of “The Lottery”, discusses how the com society to death; the author then says that this repetitive behavior of following the majority can make one become less of an individual also known as a follower.
As humans, we all conform to one idea or another. These ideas can have positive and negative effects on the people and world around us. We are unable to avoid conformity, but we can show our individuality. Norman Shpancer’s article states that all humans conform to ideas that might not necessarily cause problems, but there are instances where the choices they make cause immense harm to others around them. Logan Feys’ biography on Leopard Man claims that people who act out of the ordinary, or looked at as freaks by society, live a happier life than the “slaves of society.” [Thesis].
The individual must rebel against societal conformity. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” (Emerson-quotesgram.com) People can’t just conform to what everyone else is doing and follow the path that is already made. They have to go where there is no path and make their own trail for others to follow if they want. It may be more difficult than just follow where there is already a path, but sometimes it is better to do things the hard way, because in the end it pays off in different ways. “Simplify, simplify.” (Thoreau 383) If we don’t want to conform to what the society wants, then we have to simplify our lives to make them easier on our own. If people can’t simplify their lives, then they will think that
Human beings are defined as ''social animals'' because in every aspects of life they live together, they form a variety of groups and improve relationships with each other. Interaction with others is a natural result of living in society. In the process of interaction, society and its rules has a social impact on each individual. If people face with any kind of social impact such as group pressure, great part of them show conformity by changing their behaviors, ideas, decisions in expected way. A person conforms if he or she chooses a course of action that a majority favors or that is socially acceptable. Some kind of conformity is natural and socially healthy but obeying all the norms, ideas, and decisions without thinking or accepting
In everything that I do I decide to go the road less traveled, I make the choice to see something in a different way than everyone else. I choose not to wear the same clothes as most people do, I choose to always say what is on my mind and I try my hardest to not let what people may think of me interfere with what I say I and do. I consider myself a non-conformist for these reasons. Even when it comes to culture: I would much prefer the independent, locally-owned video shop where I can find obscure movies to the gigantic Blockbuster. I don’t choose to listen to Popular music or buy the CD’s of artists being shoved down our throats by MTV. I choose to find my own flavor, to disregard the overwhelming majority to the best of my ability. My feelings go along with Emerson’s again in “Self-Reliance”: “A man is to carry himself in the presence of all opposition, as if every thing were titular and ephemeral but he.” Continuing on the subject of conformity Emerson provides the famous line: “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.” Stressing again the view of answering only
Non-Conformances on an aircraft has an impact on the financial status of any corporation. Defects documented on the airplane have proven to lessen the value and often leads to the customer opting to walk away from the deal forcing the manufacture to seek another buyer at a reduced rate. Costs do not result from only producing and fixing failures; a large number of costs comes from ensuring that quality products are produced. The cost of conformance is the price paid for preventing poor quality (inspection and quality appraisal). On the other hand, the cost of non-conformance is the cost of poor quality caused by product and service failure (rework and returns). Investigation of problems with the aircraft is an aid in prevention of failure to
Conformity is a major necessity for any society to function well, and it is completely required. In the article, 13 Pros and Cons Of Conformity in Society, it states “Conforming to society provides protection from threats. There are strength in numbers and just like our ancestors had to form societies to protect them from wild animals and other threats, societies today protect the group for threats against resources.” The author was trying to say that the basis of a society is to protect the community and resources from threats, however if the world was full of just nonconformists the world wouldn’t have developed the major civilizations and we would of most likely died off to bigger threats as we wouldn’t be able to come together. Nonconformists do not create communities that the world so desperately needs as any society needs rules, and non-conformists don’t often follow rules. In the same article, 13 Pros and Cons of Conformity in Society, it once again states “a strong society depends on people to
“The reward for conformity is that everybody likes you but yourself,” A quote by Rita Mae Brown, a renowned writer. Americans today tend to believe conformity is just a human trait we all share with no importance. Common sense seems to dictate that everybody conforms and there is no effect. Not being yourself can cause depression, drug use, and even death. There can also be positive effects for conformity; popularity is a positive effect. Conformity is both powerful and extremely common; however, every single human being conforms at a cost. The cost of conformity to the individual has both negative and positive consequences.
Many times over people have been against the grain. We are seeing it more today than ever. Mainstream people do it a specific way while some don’t like it and do something different. Some would argue that being nonconformist is actually being a conformist. This is true. This especially happens when a nonconformist became a nonconformist for the sake of being non-conformist. Nonconformity is just a different type of conformity.
Each day, people make decisions that are influenced by what is considered normal in society. Whether it’s the clothes they wear, the activities do, the things they say, or the way they act, everybody participates in conformity on some level. The archetype of conformity is represented all throughout the short film, Destino, and the Broadway play, Sunday in the Park with George, by showing how one can stay true to themself despite social norms, how one is forced to conform to social norms within society, and the struggle of attempting to remain true to oneself despite conformity around them. Is it always in one’s best interest to conform to these social norms?
Is conformity a desirable characteristic? If the world did not have nonconformists, life itself, burning living hell. Overruled by the demons that crush our morals simply because it is easier to go with the flow. As Mahatma Gandhi explicitly stated, “It’s easy to stand with the crowd, but it takes great courage to stand alone.” Society itself will be playing the role of puppets. A wave of repulsion of being controlled like robots is excruciating. Nonconformists are the soul of an authentically new frontier.
According to an article by Saul McLeod in Simple Psychology, “conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group”(McLeod “What”). It is not an uncommon experience in life to encounter yourself or others yielding to group pressure. Sometimes the situation is as simple as the celebration of some random basketball team making it through to the next playoff game, not actually caring who shot that winning basket, but joining in the excitement because it would be considered the “norm” within that social group. So for years now scientists of all specialties have been asking the question, “why is it that people conform, and where will they draw the line?”
We conform far more frequently than we perceive, and it is actually necessary to our survival on many different platforms. Though there are highlighted negative contributions of conformity, there are also too many positive constituents that are made possible only as a result of that same notion. There are activists for animal rights, organization that help the poor, and countless of other groups that provide the world with enlightened proposals that would never have seen the light of day without the people that stand behind them, conforming to the ideas that the group
An advantage of conformity is feeling that you’re not alone. You feel accepted and a part of a group where will nobody will judge you. An example of this is Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Hitler influenced fellow Germans and Austrian’s that Jews needed to be killed off and did not deserve to live, as well as homo-sexuals, gypsies, anyone mentally or