Nonconformity and conformity..agree or disagree? Options

[mmmchocolate]

No matter how hard one tires to be a Nonconformist, absolute individuality is unattainable. The ones who go against the flow will never find themselves alone, there will always be another who has gone before them, who has tried the same things. Pure nonconformity virtually does not exist, but if you look at religion, each is nonconforming within itself.
Dressing differently than others would be classified as nonconformity. One may be utterly different from their surroundings and be extremely individual, but somewhere else in the world someone else feels or looks the exact same. Furthermore, if one is classified as a nonconformist you are a conformist. How is this so? In a group of nonconformists, each individual is conforming to nonconforming. Pure nonconformity cannot exist in this universe, and if one possibly achieves this feat, they would be rejected by society, considering they do not exile themselves first.
“Whoso would be a man must also be a nonconformist.” This is neither a statement nor a question; it is more of an opinion. Although, in my opinion everyone is a conformist, there are nonconformists within certain areas. For instance, schools have those certain members who are rejected or cast themselves out; they are the nonconformists. Another example of this is that every clique within a school or organization is nonconforming within itself. The group of jocks and the group of Goths may consider one another nonconformists against each other. Small groups of nonconformists exist everywhere.
Wherever one goes in life, one will run into a person who believes they are nonconformists. This person(s) will believe they are unique in every way and that no one feels the same way that they do. They do not want sympathy, they do not want attention, and they just want to be left alone. These people will honestly tell you this is how they feel and that they are being nonconformists. To me, this is FALSE! They are NOT the only ones who feel depressed or hated or however they are feeling. There are hundreds maybe millions of people who feel the exact same way. Ultimate nonconformity is impossible.
If one looks for nonconformity, one could look at religion. Christianity has Christians who are nonconformists to, lets say, Hinduism. And Hinduism has Hindus who are nonconformists to Christianity. Any religion would classify another religion as nonconformity. One could say that Charles Darwin was the first and possibly the only true nonconformist, to our immediate knowledge that is. It is all relative to what one believes and has faith in.
Though “pure” nonconformity is extremely rare, nonconformity needs to exist for a society to function properly. If every single person conforms to the exact same thing, life would be dull, boring, and bleak. It would be like sitting in a room with twenty other individuals, each sitting in the same direction, wearing masks and the exact same clothing. You cannot move, talk, or do anything. A world without nonconformists would be hell. Every person has a personality, and in order for that personality to thrive one must not conform to at least some things. A little nonconformity brings life into the everyday life. It is what separates us from the norm, and makes us the individuals that God intended from the very beginning.
If one is classified as a nonconformist you are a conformist. One may be utterly different from their surroundings and be extremely individual, but somewhere else in the world someone else feels or looks the exact same. Although, in my opinion everyone is a conformist, there are nonconformists within certain areas. For instance, schools have those certain members who are rejected or cast themselves out; they are the nonconformists. Wherever one goes in life, one will run into a person who believes they are nonconformists. If one looks for nonconformity, one could look at religion. Nonconformity is not a bad thing, it is a very good thing, but being a conformists in some areas is also a very good thing.

This is my opinion----^

I recently wrote this for a school paper , but I want some outside input...

What do you think? Are there nonconformists in society or is everyone a conformist? And is it good or bad?

Get the brain gears turning!

[Taskbot]

Hahaha oh man, yeah I'm a social scientist so I can totally debate this topic forever, and both sides too. So I'm going to try and present my opinion or my understanding of conformity.

Conformity is such a broad umbrella term though or if not an umbrella term its really vague. What do you define conformity as? I think most people would agree that conformity is any action to seek the approval of the culture, or to be accepted in the culture as opposed to being forced to accept an idea as true. That is called compliance. So when you first have to discuss this you have to come up with a reasonable definition of conformity and how you define it is really crucial to your entire discussion.

Now comes the fun crap. If we define conformity as such we can start to play with this question a bit more by asking other questions. If your goal is to conform and you are still ostracized by dominant culture have you conformed? Were you successful? If I remember correctly, we discuss conformity in relation to three things, Dominant Culture, Subculture and Anti-culture. Dominant culture being the unthinking brainwashed fully conformed masses, subculture being dominantly in the norm with some outside quirks (think goths, most goths are pretty dark looking and bleak but they still believe in justice and human rights) and anti-cultures which are radically opposed to dominant culture or outside of dominant culture entirely. (think of 'hippy' colonies or radical feminist colonies)

Okay now back to that question. I think that if you've failed entirely at conformity or dominant culture ostracizes you entirely, you are a non-conformist or part of an anti-culture. What I mean by this is that you're so opposed to culture or culture is so opposed to you that you are labeled an outcast. So that answers your question, yeah I think its possible to be an non-conformist, be definition of not being able to conform.

That being said, over time you might be given a chance to conform to your own anti-culture. If there are enough of you that were segregated from society, you might eventually cross paths with some like minded individuals. When you find these individuals, you might even start your own community and conform to the identity of that community and as your community grows, so does your voice in influencing dominant culture. The gay rights movement is a particularly good example of this and some cities even have particular community designated areas where a person can live in the neighborhood of similar minded individuals and other people can move there seeking refuge from oppression.

So I've kind of argued both sides. Can you be a non-conformist? Yeah probably. Would you be a non-conformist for a very long time? No, hopefully not. Hopefully you can manage to find a like-minded group to conform to. As for the question of is it good or bad? I hope you mean your argument and not conformity because your argument is pretty sound and I have been awake for 18 hours and I can't think straight. (this should be evident above) So if you want my opinion, get some sources. Hit up some social sciences books that discuss dominant culture or even social psychology.