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From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: THe Moral Value of Conformity
Message-ID: <1665@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-Sep-85 14:34:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.1665
Posted: Mon Sep 23 14:34:23 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 25-Sep-85 12:19:53 EDT
References: <734@psivax.UUCP> <1747@pyuxd.UUCP>
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 38

In article <1747@pyuxd.UUCP> rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) writes:

>> 	And I can add another very important reason. Humans and our
>> immediate ancestors have been socially oriented animals for millions
>> of years, living in "packs", "troups", or "tribes" as a rule. We thus
>> have all the instincts and emotional desires of a social animal. We
>> have emotional "needs" for reassurance, affirmation and so forth. We
>> tend to view our own identity from a group perspective, we "know who
>> we are" by what group we belong to. [FRIESEN]
>
>This sounds like a good excuse for encouraging conformity, but surely
>not a very good reason for doing so.  Sounds like a rationalization to me.
>Because we need "reassurance and affirmation", we "should" be like
>other people in order to get those things.  Why do you ignore the fact that
>people learn the process of accepting, reassuring, and affirming people
>"like" them, when they could just as easily learn to accept people on an
>individual basis?  All you are saying is that the current status quo is
>that "being like other people" is a positive social survival trait because
>people have learned to value likeness in other people rather than
>individuality.

Now hold it.  Why are they going to learn to value conformity, unless they
ALREADY have a predisposition to conformity?  Suppose kids did learn to
value individuality over conformity from their parents.  Doesn't this arise
from their desire to conform with what their parents want them to be like?
And in fact, I would expect such parents to exert a lot of pressure to
conform on their children.  If one of their kids inclined towards being a
conformist, it's hard to believe that they would simply let them go.

In any case, (I'm getting tired of having to say this so often) Rich is
making, once again, an unproven assertion.  In view of the seeming
inconsistency in Rich's position, I think the question is how strong a force
this need for socialization really is.  My guess, based upon my own
experience, is that it is highly variable.

Charley Wingate

"For the mouse is a creature of great personal valour."  - C. Smart


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