Social Norms In Brave New World

Have you ever done something so odd and so weird that you got hundreds of funny looks in your direction? Usually, when you get these looks, you are breaking some sort of social norm. Social norms are rules of behavior that are considered acceptable in a society during certain situations, but breaking the social norms can be highly frowned upon in the social world we live in today. Certain social norms that are universally known include driving on the right side of the road, keeping a pinky promise and living by the golden rule. Social norms can keep a community together and running smoothly if used, but many people like to push the boundaries of normality to see what happens and how others will respond. Although, I do not embarrass easily, I thought it would be interesting to see people’s reactions if for just one day I violated a social norm.

Despite of whether going to college is worth it or not, recent college graduates have become more successful in their lives. Some people may think that attending college is a waste of time and money, while others feel that college gives them valuable skills in the real world. College will help the person gain the necessary work skills for his or her future job career. Moreover, the job that a person gets after college can outweigh the money and time the person spent in college. College graduates will be more favorable to have a better job than those who does not have a college degree. As our generation is rapidly changing, the work- force is getting tougher which means having a higher education is important in today’s world. Having a college degree is an obvious part of the candidate and is expected by the many employers. Nonetheless, going to college can also give students the opportunity network and develop personal connections among other students who are also interested in the career field.

In the essay “College Value Goes Deeper Than the Degree” author Eric Hoover claims a college education is important to one 's well-being so they can get a job and be productive in other parts of life. Promoters of higher education have long emphasized how beneficial college’s value and its purpose. Many believe the notion that colleges teach students are life skills to apply anywhere, they also work hard to earn a degree and learn specific marketable skills which they can use to get a good job. Though obtaining a college education and a degree is helpful in countless of ways, it is not necessary to pursue a college degree in world where a college degree is seen different now, people without turn out fine, the growing average of debt that students who attend college have to pay off and people without a degree can obtain many jobs that do not require college degrees.

Throughout the entire world there are issues with our societies brought upon by the lack of clear thinking and/or compassion. Many of these issues may not be problems necessarily but just topics discussed when the word “issue” is brought up. One can clearly compare our society to the society described in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World. In this novel the society Huxley has created is meant to be a utopia, made up of a hierarchy known as the caste system. Social classes in both societies create issues due to the fact that everyone has always had different standings in society.

The title of this odd social experiment is Parental Permission. The title will make more sense once you become more familiar with the project. The aim of this project was to break an everyday social norm; a social norm is a set of rules or behaviors that are considered acceptable in society or among a group. As citizens of a society we all adhere to many social norms, a very common social norm is tipping a waiter or simply wearing clothes.

More often than not, young students are taught to believe that they must go to a prestigious university to obtain a Bachelor’s degree or higher in order to have a fulfilling and satisfying career. This may hold true for some people, but others do not need to follow this same path. For students who choose a career that isn’t considered conventional or isn’t high in pay, they tend to be looked down upon which pressures them into choosing career paths that they do not have a passion for, or the skill set to actually accomplish which makes college a waste of time and money. While everyone should be encouraged to get an education beyond high school, people should be encouraged to get the education that is relevant and proper for them to make sure they are getting their money’s worth.

A social norm is defined as the rules of behavior that are considered acceptable in society. Throughout American history, the rules regarding what is considered acceptable behavior has changed tremendously. These behaviors haven’t changed just once or twice, but many times over the span of many years. Social norms can change quite often. There is a tremendous amount of behaviors we do in modern America that would have never been considered acceptable years ago. American society has changed significantly in consideration to social norms. Social norms that have changed excessively throughout American history are being affiliated with the LGBT community, dating, relationships, and premarital sex. So, how have social norms changed in American society?

When one chooses to go to college, they are investing in their future career. Once a young adult leaves high school they have a choice to either go to college or to go into the workforce. When deciding which path they will take, they must look at both the benefits and disadvantages. The advantage to going straight into the workforce is being able to immediately start their profession of choice and do not have to pay off expensive college loans. The disadvantage to going straight into the workforce is the fact that in today’s job market, there are not many high-paying jobs that do not require a degree. However, the benefit of going to college is that careers that require a college degree are often high-paying and come with worker’s benefits. College affords the student to develop and master academic and social skills. Companies and employers are not willing to invest time and money into prospects without those skills or a formal education. The disadvantage to going to college is brought upon because college tuition has doubled in the past ten years, which makes college unaffordable without being overwhelmed by student loans for the rest of one’s life (Graff 179). The differences between these two paths make the decision to go to college one of the most influential decisions of an individual’s entire life. Each of these paths have their advantages and disadvantages, but in the long run, going to college is more beneficial than going straight into the workforce.

When anyone faces a new environment were their society does not align with one’s own, the initial reaction is to not conform to their ideals. In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, his protagonist, John, is stuck in the Brave New World. He lives his everyday life by challenging the customs and morals of the brave new world society. This eventually spirals out of control and only shows that conformity is inevitable no matter how hard to try to be the odd man out. John is considered a savage in this novel because he is not from the brave new world society.

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World explores the concept of change in societal norms, examining whether it is a result of definitive morality, or simply relevancy. Written in 1931, the novel has a backdrop of a rapidly changing society, being recorded following the Roaring Twenties and the start of American Consumerism. This period was a time of social innovation, old values tossed out for being too sentimental and chivalrous. The new era would hold a contemporary way of life, afar from the prudeness of the past. Huxley delves into these ideas throughout the novel, especially in Chapter 17 which is closing in on the end. There lies the debate of morals and ideals between one of the leading protagonists, John and the antagonist, Mustapha Mond.

The society, cultural norms, and outcasts of Huxley’s Brave New World reveal the true backbone to the stability of the community. The society’s organization depends on the susceptibility of its people to feel not as an individual, but as a whole community, identical and belonging to others. The society is appealing to its citizens, who always experience an induced happiness and therefore have no choice but to feel content. However, the society strips its people of anything raw, true, or lively. Experience is nonexistent and life is a dull and repetitious cycle. There are several authority figures. These figures include Mustapha Mond: the World Controller, Helmholtz: the message writer, Tomakin: the director, and Bernard the psychologist. There are

The majority of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley takes place in the World State, or what is considered to be the civilized world. In the World State, citizens emerge from test tubes where their lives have been predestined in the Fertilizing Room of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Center. In the novel, readers are also introduced to a reservation called Malpais. Malpais resembles a more traditional society where women undergo birth and the destiny of their offspring is typically left up to them. Throughout the novel Huxley highlights the differences between the two societies in terms of customs, values, and ideas. It is indeed the conditioning of each character that forces them to react to their surroundings in the manner in which

Throughout Aldous Huxley’s classic dystopian novel entitled Brave New World the reader experiences life in a post-apocalyptic world which claims to be an ideal society. However, it quickly becomes evident to the reader that this society is not ideal. In fact, the society depicted in Brave New World is immoral because the freedoms of the individual are non-existent. This is a result of the government’s total control of society and through the over sexualisation of society. The government’s total control of society is illustrated through the predetermined social and economic roles for everybody, the disallowance of people to think for themselves, genetic engineering, social conditioning and their control of people’s emotions. Furthermore, The

Brave New World’s “fictional” society [World State] is practically an extreme, yet logically developed version of our world’s economic values, where economic growth and prosperity is equated with the success of a society. It has several comparisons to the realistic one we live in everyday. Huxley describes this part of his vision as being a “consumer society,” which evidently was satire of the society he was living in and the one that still exists today. In which people buy all they can and keep buying useless consumer items: nice clothes, food, and drugs. People indulge in these items and become so happy that they lose and choose not to care about their personal freedoms, which is why it is so easy for the World State’s citizens to be controlled.

In my opinion our society is getting closer and closer to the society in Brave New World. We are the same in the way that people are treating each other and being more disrespectful to ourselves and others in the way that we act. They are not allowed to have families. All the females have to be on “birth control” so that they don’t get pregnant. We are like the Brave New World in so many ways that no one has realized. How much closer are we going to get before thing take a turn for the better, or maybe even the worse?