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Issue 22很多人认为一些个人和小的群体(例如家庭、朋友、老师、名人)影响了他们的思维和做法。其实是这个社会作为一个整体影响着人们的态度,而并非一些个人。
Many people believe that a few individuals and some small groups (families, friends, teachers, and celebrities, for example) have caused them to think and behave in the way they do. Yet it is always society as a whole that define us and out attitudes, not a few individuals.
Most people are inclined to be involved in such a time-consuming but fruitless debate: whether it is a few individuals or society as a whole that defines us and our attitudes. In reality, however, seldom can one’s attitudes, thoughts and behaviors be determined simply by either a few individuals or the whole society alone. A more rational and well-founded idea can be then argued that, it is the two factors combined together that define what we are, rather than either of them alone.
Does the whole society alone have the ability to define us and our attitudes? Certainly not. Without the contribution of some concrete social entities such as families, schools and something else, simply the society can never find the way to imbue its tradition, norms, values and culture into its citizenships. Anyone, when he/she was born, is growing up under a family surrounding where his/her father or mother tells him/her what is right, what is wrong, what is valuable and what is invaluable. Certainly the role played by parents is impossible to be replaced by the society as a whole. Later, the child attends to school, where teachers start to play a critical role in teaching him/her scientific knowledge, logical thinking, cultural literature and something valuable else regarded by his/her society. In addition, friends and celebrities can also affect what we are, and sometimes this type of influence is very crucial to shaping us and our attitudes. One illuminating example of this case is the violent admiration of the younger to sport stars or movie stars, whose behaviors have an amazing impact upon the juvenile today. Therefore, during the course of our growing, there are certain to be some individuals who have significantly affected our aspiration, values, characteristics, and behaviors.
It can be easily observed that the citizenships in the same nation, though quite different in many aspects they are, always have many common in their norms, morality, values, and traditions, etc.. If we stick to the idea that it is simply a few individuals or the whole society alone that defines what we are, we will find it very difficult to explain this seemingly contradictory phenomenon. The society as a whole cannot account for the great variations in people’s actual thoughts and behaviors, while a few individuals alone also cannot account for the similar or even completely the same conventions and cultures in special social groups. This vividly proves that neither the whole society nor a few individuals can work alone to affect the growing of people in general.
Another underlying problem with stating that the society as a whole defines us and our attitudes is that it cannot explain the rapid change in social norms and cultures. With the progress of science and technology, some people’s thinking manners, attitudes and behaviors will change correspondingly. And it is widely acknowledged that the changes in individuals will ultimately pose a great impact on the traditions, values and cultures of the whole society. This means that a few individuals are able to affect what we are, otherwise how the changes in small group at first can transmit into the whole society?
In conclusion, the relationship of a few individuals and the whole society is more of a complementary one rather than a mutually exclusive one in defining us and our attitudes. The whole society accounts for the common existing in people in general, and a few individuals account for the great differences in people. (574 words) |
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