Conformity Project: Blog 1

For the English Assignment Conformity, Then and Now, I want to focus on the the consequences that conformity to social and family values have on the individual, whether negative or positive, from two generations ago to the conformity the individual faces now. In observing the impact of conforming, the impact on the family and the individual's mind must be taken into account. Often, the impact on the family involves the stability of the family or possibly the family's reputation in a commmunity. In the novel Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennnet risks losing a position in higher society for her and her family and strong financial security after refusing two marriage proposals from gentlemen, an opportunity that most families would teach their daughters not to turn down. In modern families, the children feel much less pressure to marry into wealth or families well connected in higher society. This familial pressure has shifted towards the children working hard to earn an education and a job in order to provide for the family directly.
In other words, one of the aspects of conformity I want to focus on is the shift of familial pressure to court and marry with the fact that the family would benefit financially to the modern-day familial pressure to earn a college education and a job with a high salary. Both aspects help the family economically, but the modern aspect has more control for the individual over his life: unlike in the 19th century, the individual can choose to marry with his interests in mind and earn an adequate living without a college education and without his family shunning him (though at extremes cases, they would).