Culture

The word culture is a vast and widely used term. In fact, the term has so many different, valid meanings that questions regarding culture have become difficult to answer. Culture is defined by dictionary.com about 30 different ways which are all accurate in some way or another. I guess in order to answer cultural questions like these, one must respond in accordance to his most applicable understanding of the word.

Be it the super bowl, Hollywood movie premiers, presidential elections, or simply the food that we eat, culture is all around us. Negative or positive, these aspects greatly influence and arguably control the way we all live. Of course there are plenty of good things to be said for the influence of our society, it pushes us to be productive, efficient, to follow the rules and do what’s right. However, there exists an underlying problem with the effects of this powerful influence. Somehow beneath these wonderful initial intentions of societal conformity as a means of order, there is a bit of a negative side.

Society has taken the original ideal of conformity and blown it out of proportion. In today’s world conformity is applied to every aspect of life. The concept that serves to maintain order in a society’s structure is essentially playing a large part in dismembering it. The same conformity which applies to following laws and rules, having good manners, and behaving in school is causing kids watching Hollywood celebrities to develop eating disorders and low sense of self-esteem while kids influenced by the current situations in the sports world may be influenced to use steroids. These are just a few examples of this negative side of this “uniform society” ideal.

Conformity in society arguably controls most everything we do, from diets monitoring the food that we eat, to commercials regulating the majority of products we buy at the grocery store. Our society is set up to program individuals from day one to fit in and conform. While conforming does play an important role in socialization and is arguably one of the more necessary concepts to the success of society, it undoubtedly goes hand in hand with numerous negative effects on life in general. The solution to this whole ordeal must begin with an official answer to the much debated question, “Is conformity in society a positive of negative aspect?” Until we have a unanimous opinion regarding this conflict of interests, I’m afraid the debate continues.