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Would individuals accept ridiculous or extreme practices in order to look like the idyllic person society tells us to identify with? According to statistics released by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), 14. 6 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed in the United States In 2012. 14. 6 million people conform each year to what society defines as beauty. No one wants to be the odd one, therefore we transform, we familiarize, and we alter ourselves to what society finds editable.
It’s our human nature to want to feel the sense of belonging; no one wants to be rejected by those surrounding them, which leads to conformity. The Cash Experiment is a perfect example of conforming too social role. Participant’s entered a small crowded elevator four out of five subjects were told to face opposite of the opening elevator doors; leaving one test subject oddly facing forward in the accustomed manner. Subtly and slowly the eccentric of the five begins to alter his position to compliment that of his peers-??conforming by mute obedience and compliance.
The episode from “The Twilight Zone: Eye of the Beholder” contains characters portraying the three types of conformity. First we meet Janet Tyler; she is a woman with “facial deformities” In a totalitarian society that emphasizes conformity In every possible way Including physical appearance. In one of her scenes she strongly says “l want to be Like everyone else” what she’s Implying by that Is she has Identified with the idea that her physical appearance is grotesque and abnormal.
She takes part in features (millions of men and women do this today). Being born physically different room everyone, and believing she’s the odd one, leads Ms. Tyler to fall under the prime example of identification in social conformity. She acknowledged the idea that her face is the “ugly’ face to have been born with by perceiving the reactions of those around her. Then we watch and hear the nurses (who represent society) interact with one another. One asks “have you ever seen her face, 307? The other implies that she indeed has by replying “if it were mine I’d bury myself in a grave someplace. ” Both nurses (society) classified patient 307 as an “undesirable” because it accommodates them. This type of conformity is initialization; acting and trusting in unity with social pressure. This is the furthermost undying, profoundly ingrained reaction to communal influence. Initialization is driven by a longing to be correct. Finally we meet Dry. Bernard, the doctor who performs on Ms.
Tyler. Being her eleventh procedure Dry. Bernard has got to know his patient quite well as he states “Vive seen that woman’s real face, the face of her real self. It’s a good face, a human face. ” He continues to express his thoughts by asking a nurse “why aren’t people allowed to be different? Implying he disagrees with the conformity in this totalitarian society. This type of conformity is compliance; visibly acting in harmony with common pressure while secretly disagreeing. Dry.
Bernard privately disagrees but continues by following the rules to avoid punishment or “treason. ” Authority affects conformity and culture because the person or organization that provides the authority is observed to be intelligent and of well-intentioned Judgment, we conform to the belief he or she promotes and we incorporate it into our belief system simply because they seem confident in their claims. For instance no one enjoys paying axes but our society has conformed by compliance in order to avoid tax evasion charges from the federal government.
Authority figures tell their society what is desirable and what’s not. In the American culture our authority figures measure ones success by superficial materialism (the American dream); they breed us to be materialistic; consequently, turning us in too herd of maddened consumers. All we do as a society is spend putting ourselves further in the debt hole. We spend money on non-essential items to appear successful and we do this because we as a nation have conformed to someone else’s idea of success.