If you've ever thought, "There must be more to life than this," The Art of Non-Conformity is for you. Based on Chris Guillebeau's popular online manifesto "A Brief Guide to World Domination," The Art of Non-Conformity defies common assumptions about life and work while arming you with the tools to live differently. You'll discover how to live on your own terms by exploring creative self-employment, radical goal-setting, contrarian travel, and embracing life as a constant adventure. Inspired and guided by Chris's own story and those of others who have pursued unconventional lives, you can devise your own plan for world domination-and make the world a better place at the same time.

The best way to communicate and to educate as well as help people see the truth is storytelling. Walt Disney one of the best storytellers ever knew this simple concept from the very beginning when he first dreamed up his first animated character, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit which he lost the rights to because of some unexpected legal problems he had not anticipated. Even after losing the rights to Oswald, Walt went on to create Mickey Mouse because he knew the secret of success is to never, never, never give up. The rest is history. Breaking Conformity is a fantastic story that will educate you to understand why you should not believe or accept many common myths at face value and will also teach you how to make simple myths come true if you also do the hard work that follows many simple statements that makes up some of the most popular myths in business today. Breaking Conformity will teach you the recipe for success through very effective storytelling. To be successful and to achieve your goals you need to know the whole story about how successful people get more done that other people and how they focus on the details and never quit learning. In fact the most successful people never quit anything that they really want. They know that everything is hard before it is easy. They know that if they quit, they have lost for sure. You never lose until you give up and quit, no matter how long it takes. Another important point in this book is to give you a clear understanding on the power of seeking assistance and help with your goals and dreams. You personally don't have to know how to accomplish everything. You can't be an expert in everything. The world is just too complex. Successful people know the value of helping others and also seeking help. The difference between a dream and a nightmare is in your head. If you think you can, you will. If you think you can't, you won't. Leaders are readers. Don't read this book, study it and reflect on how you need to stop believing every myth and start believing in yourself and that is no myth. Lee Cockerell Former Executive Vice President, Walt Disney World(r) Resort

First published in 1969 and augmented by the author with a new essay in 1977, Class and Conformity remains a model of sociological craftsmanship. Kohn's work marshals evidence from three studies to show a decided connection between social class and values. He emphasizes that occupation fosters either self-direction or conformity in people, depending upon the amount of freedom from supervision, the complexity of the task, and the variety of the work that the job entails. The extent of parents' self-direction on the job further determines the value placed on self-direction for the children; this, Kohn finds, is the most critical and pervasive factor distingushing children raised in different socioeconomic classes.--Back cover.

A fresh repackaging of the bestselling Uglies boks...the series that started the whole dystopian trend!

This is a book about what we consider normal. It details how the very concept of normality emerged in the modern era, and how it has changed over the centuries. By the mid-twentieth century, the expansion of norms across various areas of human endeavour generated a governing normative order in Western societies. Normality was defined as conformity with a narrow model of conventional human behaviour. However, this model has since been displaced by an anti-conformism, in which normality is defined as absolute self-fulfilment, defying older restrictions on our behaviour. Paradoxically, narcissistic individualism and rebellion against conformity have become compulsory. Normal Now explores in detail how this new normative order plays out today in the arenas of politics, health, and sex and sexuality. In all these areas, the uncompromising perfectionism of our norms of self-expression leads to increasingly deep-seated and ubiquitous anger, anxiety and dissatisfaction.

Psychologists view well-adjusted behavior as conformity--the ability to navigate relationships and events within a framework of societal rules and regulations. George Serban argues that a better test is how well an individual is able to navigate adverse situations by handling conformity's ambiguities and incongruities. He uses clinical findings and content analysis to explore the interface between social conformity and nonconformist behaviors. The definition of the normal is itself problematic, since society's expectations are sometimes controversial, arbitrary, or equivocal. As a result, people who have problems coping with social conformity choose between degrees of nonconformity or hiding under what Serban calls a "mask of normalcy." Further complicating matters is that some nonconformist attitudes are now seen as normal, supported by governmental policies tacitly favoring moral relativism. A multicultural society is crisscrossed by shades of controversial values and mores. New social codes of "correct" conduct blur the distinction between true and false, right and wrong; and social conflict simmers as a result. What society perceives as well adjusted may even change within a society over time, depending on prevailing social values. Some noticeable variations have been within male-female relationships and sexual morality. Serban ultimately concludes that those who have learned how to manipulate social situations are viewed as well adjusted. Those who have not are seen as struggling or maladjusted.