Most cultures encourage individuals to sacrifice a large part of their own personalities in order
to be like other people. Thus, most people are afraid to think or behave differently because
they do not want to be excluded."
The speaker claims that most cultures encourage conformity at the expense of individuality,
and as a result most people conform for fear of being excluded. While I find the second prong
of this dual claim well supported overall by empirical evidence, I take exception with the first
prong; aside from the cultures created by certain oppressive political regimes, no culture need
"encourage" its members to conform to prevailing ways of thought and behavior; in fact, all the
evidence shows that cultures attempt to do just the opposite.
As a threshold matter, it is necessary to distinguish between conformity that an oppressive
ruling state imposes on its own culture and conformity in a free democratic society. In the
former case, people are not only encouraged but actually coerced into suppressing individual
personality; and indeed these people are afraid to think and behave differently--but not for fear
of being excluded but rather for fear of punishment and persecution by the state. The modern
Communist and Fascist regimes are fitting examples. With respect to free democratic societies,
it might be tempting to dismiss the speaker's dual claim out of hand. After all, true democratic
states are predicated on individual freedoms---of choice, speech, expression, religion, and so
forth. Ostensibly, these freedoms serve to promote individuality, even non-conformity, in our
personas, our lifestyles, and our opinions and attitudes.
Yet, one look at any democratic society reveals a high degree of conformity among its
members. Every society has its own bundle of values, customs, and mores which most of its
members share. Admittedly, within any culture springs up various subcultures which try to
distinguish themselves by their own distinct values, customs, and mores. In the U.S., for
instance, African-Americans have developed a distinct dialect, known as Ebonics, and a
distinct body language and attitude which affords them a strong sub-cultural identity of their
own. Yet, the undeniable fact is that humans, given the actual freedom to either conform or not
conform, choose to think and behave in ways similar to most people in their social
group---however we define that group.
Nor is there much empirical evidence of any cultural agenda, either overt or covert, to
encourage conformity in thought and behavior among the members of any culture. To the
contrary, the predominant message in most cultures is that people should cultivate their
individuality. Consider, for example, the enduring and nearly ubiquitous icon of the ragged
individualist, who charts his or her own course, bucks the trend, and achieves notoriety
through individual creativity, imagination, invention, or entrepreneurship. Even our systems of
higher education seem to encourage individualism by promoting and cultivating critical and
independent thought among its students.
Yet, all the support for forging one's one unique persona, career, lifestyle, opinions, and
even belief system, turns out to be hype. In the final analysis, most people choose to conform.
And understandably so; after all, it is human nature to distrust, and even shun, others who are
13
too different from us. Thus to embrace rugged individualism is to risk becoming an outcast, the
natural consequence of which is to lLmit one's socioeconomic and career opportunities. This
prospect suffices to quell our yearning to be different; thus the speaker is correct that most of
us resign ourselves to conformity for fear of being left behind by our peers. Admittedly, few
cultures are without rugged individualists----the exceptional artists, inventors, explorers, social
reformers, and entrepreneurs who embrace their autonomy of thought and behavior, then test
their limits. And paradoxically, it is the achievements of these notable non-conformists that are
responsible for most cultural evolution and progress. Yet such notables are few and far
between in what is otherwise a world of insecure, even fearful, cultural conformists.
To sum up, the speaker is correct that most people choose to conform rather than behave
and think in ways that run contrary to their culture's norms, and that fear of being exduded lies
at the heart of this choice. Yet, no culture need encourage conformity; most humans recognize
that there is safety of numbers, and as a result freely choose conformity over the risks, and
potential rewards, of non-conformity.
Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
---|---|---|---|
2019-08-29 | hossainmehrub | 58 | view |
2019-07-12 | ireth7 | 66 | view |
- The best way to teach is to praise actions and ignore negative ones. 66
- Scientific theories, which most people consider as 'fact,' almost invariably prove to be inaccurate. Thus, one should look upon any information described as 'factual' with skepticism since it may well be proven false in the future.&quo 66
- The following appeared in a memo from a vice president of a large, highly diversified company."Ten years ago our company had two new office buildings constructed as regional headquarters for two different regions. The buildings were erected by two di 82
- Educational institutions have a responsibility to dissuade students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed 66
- Educational institutions have a responsibility to dissuade students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed 66
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 36, column 89, Rule ID: WHO_NOUN[1]
Message: A noun should not follow "who". Try changing to a verb or maybe to 'who is a are'.
Suggestion: who is a are
...ture to distrust, and even shun, others who are 13 too different from us. Thus to emb...
^^^^^^^
Line 38, column 24, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Thus,
...ers who are 13 too different from us. Thus to embrace rugged individualism is to r...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, but, first, however, if, look, second, so, then, thus, well, while, after all, for example, in fact, as a result, to sum up, with respect to
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 27.0 19.5258426966 138% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 4.0 12.4196629213 32% => OK
Conjunction : 42.0 14.8657303371 283% => Less conjunction wanted
Relative clauses : 19.0 11.3162921348 168% => OK
Pronoun: 51.0 33.0505617978 154% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 97.0 58.6224719101 165% => OK
Nominalization: 10.0 12.9106741573 77% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3832.0 2235.4752809 171% => OK
No of words: 686.0 442.535393258 155% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.5860058309 5.05705443957 110% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.11777311996 4.55969084622 112% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.18182006945 2.79657885939 114% => OK
Unique words: 357.0 215.323595506 166% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.520408163265 0.4932671777 106% => OK
syllable_count: 1166.4 704.065955056 166% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59117977528 107% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 12.0 6.24550561798 192% => OK
Article: 7.0 4.99550561798 140% => OK
Subordination: 4.0 3.10617977528 129% => OK
Conjunction: 20.0 1.77640449438 1126% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 19.0 4.38483146067 433% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 27.0 20.2370786517 133% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0 23.0359550562 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 69.2668445044 60.3974514979 115% => OK
Chars per sentence: 141.925925926 118.986275619 119% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.4074074074 23.4991977007 108% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.55555555556 5.21951772744 106% => OK
Paragraphs: 50.0 4.97078651685 1006% => Less paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 2.0 7.80617977528 26% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 17.0 10.2758426966 165% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 7.0 5.13820224719 136% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 3.0 4.83258426966 62% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.279357898785 0.243740707755 115% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0758259841074 0.0831039109588 91% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0610188776552 0.0758088955206 80% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0567719437613 0.150359130593 38% => Maybe some paragraphs are off the topic.
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0578123131355 0.0667264976115 87% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 17.6 14.1392134831 124% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 37.64 48.8420337079 77% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.92365168539 141% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 14.2 12.1743820225 117% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 15.44 12.1639044944 127% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.36 8.38706741573 112% => OK
difficult_words: 195.0 100.480337079 194% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 19.0 11.8971910112 160% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.2143820225 107% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.7820224719 102% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 30 minutes.
Maximum six paragraphs wanted.
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.