In contrast, true nonconformity would mean adopting views (and undertaking consequent actions) that seriously lower your status and risk severe loss of reputation, unemployability, …
Doesn’t have to be as serious as bucking the law. It can even be as simple as telling your boss that his idea won’t work (because of X, Y and Z). Or deciding to buck the corporate dress-requirements because you know you will never be put in front of a real customer and therefore should be allowed to be comfortable at work… etc etc
Only if you stretch the definition of “nonconformity” to the point of meaninglessness. If you define it so broadly to include things like these you mention—polite disagreement with authority figures over technical matters and slight bending of rules to make things easier—then practically every human being who has ever lived has been a “nonconformist.”
Ah… by this I take it that you’ve never worked in a job where telling the boss what to do will end in your being disciplined for not toeing the company line. We’re not talking “polite disagreement over technical matters” here. There are situations of this kind where you definitely suffer social stigma for speaking out.
…mostly when the company has become a cult… and it’s much better to avoid this kind of company if you can—but that’s very difficult in today’s corporate culture.
Now I understand better what you’re talking about. I have seen such examples of institutional mendacity, and I certainly agree that in some sorts of institutions it is so widespread that you may be faced with unpleasant trade-offs between your career (or other) interest and your integrity. So yes, I’d certainly count it as real nonconformity if you opt for the latter.
Doesn’t have to be as serious as bucking the law. It can even be as simple as telling your boss that his idea won’t work (because of X, Y and Z). Or deciding to buck the corporate dress-requirements because you know you will never be put in front of a real customer and therefore should be allowed to be comfortable at work… etc etc
Only if you stretch the definition of “nonconformity” to the point of meaninglessness. If you define it so broadly to include things like these you mention—polite disagreement with authority figures over technical matters and slight bending of rules to make things easier—then practically every human being who has ever lived has been a “nonconformist.”
Ah… by this I take it that you’ve never worked in a job where telling the boss what to do will end in your being disciplined for not toeing the company line. We’re not talking “polite disagreement over technical matters” here. There are situations of this kind where you definitely suffer social stigma for speaking out. …mostly when the company has become a cult… and it’s much better to avoid this kind of company if you can—but that’s very difficult in today’s corporate culture.
Now I understand better what you’re talking about. I have seen such examples of institutional mendacity, and I certainly agree that in some sorts of institutions it is so widespread that you may be faced with unpleasant trade-offs between your career (or other) interest and your integrity. So yes, I’d certainly count it as real nonconformity if you opt for the latter.