Question

Explain how conformity plays a role in the success of the society in Anthem

Answer 1

Conformity is crucial for the society in Anthem, where group norms govern individual behavior, suppressing individuality but fostering superficial harmony. Influential experiments by Solomon Asch demonstrate the pressure to conform, while community enforcement of moral norms reduces the need for formal laws. The conflict between conformity and individuality can impact personal ethics and societal success.

Step-by-step explanation:

Conformity plays a significant role in the success of the society depicted in Anthem. In this society, adherence to group norms is paramount, and individuals are expected to comply with societal expectations to maintain order and unity. The pressure to conform can be so immense that individuals may forsake their personal beliefs and truths in favor of what is accepted by the larger group. This can result in a harmonious and stable society on the surface, but it may also suppress individuality and creativity. Psychologist Solomon Asch's experiments show the powerful influence of peer pressure; even well-educated individuals may agree with an untruth just to fit in.

Furthermore, moral norms enforced by community members encourage individuals to behave in certain ways, with the community's praise or blame acting as a reinforcement mechanism. This community oversight may even reduce the need for formal laws enforced by the police or other authorities. Group norms and the desire to be liked or perceived as informed can lead people to conform to expectations, often at the expense of personal values and ethics.

Ultimately, while conformity can contribute to societal success in terms of coherence and reduced conflict, it raises questions about the value of individuality and the cost of achieving unity through uniformity.

Answer 2

In Anthem by Ayn Rand, the citizens of this imaginary society are pawns without rights who exist as wards of the state. They are born in state-controlled hospitals, raised in state-controlled nurseries, educated in state-controlled schools, toil at state-assigned jobs, and sleep in massive barracks organized by the state. Citizens have no personal lives or loves; they cannot choose friends or lovers. Instead, they engage in state-controlled breeding, in which the government decides who sleeps with whom and when. Even their names are variations on collectivist slogans — Unity, Fraternity, International, and so on — followed by numbers, indicating the many "brothers" who share the slogan for a name. Above all, the word "I" has been outlawed; it is the "Unspeakable Word" that has been erased from the language and from the thoughts of citizens. All first-person references have been expunged from individual thought. When individuals speak of themselves, they use the collective "we," there being no individualistic concepts or words available.

Students often think that the citizens of Anthem are mindless puppets, brainwashed and controlled by the state. This is not so. The citizens retain their capacity to think and to choose. Equality 7-2521's plan, at the end, depends on this free will — for when he creates a different kind of society, he fully expects the best among humankind to recognize the society's merit and flock to its banner. They will choose freedom over tyranny. The mind may lie dormant, but never extinct; no dictatorship can kill the human capacity to choose liberty.