Farah's Reading List

Research Question: What is the relationship between authority, conformism, and the individual?

Search Terms:
Social classes
Conformism
Social change
Individuality
Behaviorism in society
Conformity and Obedience
Authoritarianism

Svallfors, Stefan. "CLASS AND CONFORMISM: A COMPARISON OF FOUR WESTERN COUNTRIES." European Societies 7.2 (2005): 255-86. Academic Search Premier. Web.
I think this is a good article to that shows how societies differ but are still the same in the way people think based on economic, social, and politic, conditions of the country.

Edwards, Monica. "Men Women and Social Change." Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago. Fall 2009. Lecture.
This lecture is a great primary source to show how men and women have come to live up to the way society expects them to be. The way women and men behave is the most simple example of how people have become societal zombies
Didion, Joan. "On Keeping a Notebook." Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1969).

Woolf, Virginia. "Middlebrow." 1942. Print.
This RN reading uses the example of class based on income to show how even the smallest thing such as which book you read can show how you are conforming to ways of your class and abandoning your choice of interest.

Harris, Barb. "Express Your Style." Natural Health 2003: 10. Academic Search Premier. Web.
I want to use this magazine article to show how magazines and the media use celebrities to turn the rest of society into “upper class” people. This article focuses primarily on style and clothing. This can answer the questions: Do I buy clothes from a certain place just because of its popularity?

King Jr., Martin L. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." Letter. 16 Apr. 1963. AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER - UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. Ali B. Ali-Dinar. Web.
I think King’s letter is a prime example of someone who stood up to the people who were conforming to ways of the wrong doers. He makes multiple references to how society wants entertainment and if they keep going on with this black and white war, both sides will lose.
Stirrett, Kathleen. "Authoritarianism and Recall of Evidence about Criminal Behavior." Journal of Research in Personality 9.2 (1979): 147-57. Science Direct. Web.
This is a journal article I want to use to show how authoritarianism affects human personality and can have long term negative effects on the person because they adhere to the ways of the authoritative life.

Flacks, Richard. Conformity, Resistance, and Self-Determination: The Individual and Authority. Little Brown &mpany, 1973. National Library of Australia. Web.
I want to use this book because it connects the individual human mind and how in conforms and also attempts to resistant conforming. It will give me a good insight into how the mind thinks in terms of societal impressions.

WADE, NICHOLAS. "Researcher Condemns Conformity Among His Peers." New York Times 23 July 2009. New York Times. Web.
This is article that gives a good example of why someone would want people to conform to their ways. It gives a unbiased example from the other side of the story.

Passini, Stefano. "Authority Relationships between Obedience and Disobedience." New Ideas in Psychology 27.1 (2009): 96-106. ScienceDirect. Web.
This article talks about the psychological processes triggered in obeying and disobeying the authority. This would help me give a reason from the psychological perspective to why people conform to the ways of authority or the rest of society.

George, Tony. "The Loss of Individualism in Modern Society." (2010): 1-2. Helium. Web. .
This article will help me support my argument by giving me real life situations and topics such as sports in society and how individualism is restricted. This may help me answer the questions: Why does society or those in a authoritative position want me to lose my sense of individuality?