Conservatism and individualism: the continuous dispute between the advocates of these two ideologies characterises the current environment of the society. While conservatives encourage the youth to live by the long-standing traditions, the other group believes that a person should behave independently from any social construct. I agree with the importance of pursuing one’s personal interests and values, but I also believe that there are certain aspects of a traditional society that can help the modern youth.
One the one hand, individualism perfectly represents not only the values but also the needs of today’s world. Various forms of inequality, harsh parental and peer pressure, as well as the inability to make own decisions were all once widely-accepted social conceptions that nobody even thought of as detrimental. In reality, these constraints have prevented many people from enjoying the life to its fullest for a major part of our history and have not let us develop as a society. Fortunately, over the past decades, these barriers were gradually taken down, allowing the youth today to take an active position in social life. They can make decisions that will change their lives, and the lives of people around them, to the better, contributing to the development of our world.
However, I would argue that while individualism largely benefits us, this does not mean that traditional values have become universally redundant. In many cases, traditions reflect such core principles as respect to other people and the protection of loved ones, which are still relevant today. In my opinion, traditional values should not be fully forgotten, but should rather be adapted to suit the changing nature of our society. I have long feared that, in an attempt to pursue individuality, many young people will begin to disregard all values of a traditional society. Unfortunately, this fear is slowly turning into reality as I see more and more young people – mostly the representatives of the so-called ‘woke’ movement – who push conflicting, hypocritical and destructive values onto others. They completely forget the main ideological purpose of individualism – to protect the thoughts and actions of ordinary people from being dictated by society – and all because they think that traditions have lost their place in our lives.
In conclusion, there is a negative side to both conservatism and individuality. To ensure a better life for ourselves and for generations after us, and to prevent the emergence of yet another set of harmful social conceptions, we need to find a balance between the two ideologies.