While reading excerpts from Better Living Through Criticism by A.O. Scott, A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger, and Renaissance Self-Fashioning by Stephen Greenblatt, I identified one overarching theme that each author yielded examples of in their writing: the impact of society and societal norms on perspective and opinion. The four examples of societal norms that appeared were criticism, stereotypes, the pressure of our culture to follow a certain life timeline, and the manner in which we find our identities.
In his text, Scott discussed how our opinions are largely influenced by those around us, and specifically, our decisions are largely influenced by the criticism we receive. Criticism is most closely defined as “the act of expressing disapproval and of noting the problems or faults of a person or thing.” In our society and in our culture, we are invited to give what we like to call “constructive criticism” to our counterparts. Many people consider themselves music critics, movie critics, or art critics. It is normal today for us to receive judgements on our work, our opinions, our perspectives, or our beliefs, however, these judgements will often alter our organic thinking process so we subconsciously cater to what the mass public considers to be beautiful. Scott adds that we often make the mistake of thinking that what is popular and well-liked is something of great quality. The illusion that popularity equals quality is perpetuated by the impact that others have on our opinions and our choices in life. In his text, Berger brings up stereotypes, another societal norm. In our history, generalizations made about one group of people are often regarded as truth by the greater population. Not only are these generalizations mostly untrue, but they also tend to objectify this one group of people, which can be offensive and cruel. Our culture, which is complex and sometimes corrupt, was built on the stereotyping of different groups of people, which has led to over-generalizations being accepted in society today. Additionally, Berger examines the pressure our society places on us to follow a certain life timeline. We are encouraged to establish careers, accomplish our goals, and live at a very fast pace, which does not allow time for us to slow down and question our intentions or why we are doing what we do. Less questioning and thinking only leads to more submission to societal norms. In his text, Greenblatt considers the process in which we find our identities today. It is widely believed that in our society, we have autonomy over our likes, dislikes, and life choices. However, if we actually pause to question why we like what we do, the answer is often because it is popular, because it meets society’s superficial standard of beauty, or because we think others will look down upon us if we state that we don’t like it. This is not always true, but it is often true, as the impact of criticism, stereotypes, the pressure of our culture to follow a certain life timeline, and the manner in which we find our identities regularly inform our perspectives and opinions.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2020
Categories |