How Society Deforms the Psyche: Art and Social Conformity

Introduction: Society's Demands on the Individual

Social expectations place stress on the human mind and body, and the issue of conformity can become a genuine struggle for many individuals. Various theories, such as Strain Theory and Social Learning Theory, acknowledge that society has an impact on behavior (Akers, Jennings), but artists through their work can show how societal expectations also affect the physical self. Values, constraints, norms, and conventions all influence how individuals hold themselves, judge themselves, shape themselves, and develop themselves. The social expectation that persons should be physically fit — evidenced, for instance, by the mass marketing of fitness watches that monitor heart rate — can cause some people to feel insecure about their weight, to experience body shaming, to become depressed, and to isolate themselves from their community.

The fear of not fitting in can compel individuals to try to prove themselves or to hide something in a manner that is dishonest about who they truly are. This paper argues that artworks by Degas, Munch, and Tàpies each illustrate, in their own way, how the pressure to conform to social norms can deform the psychical self and manifest visibly in the physical body.

Degas and the Weight of Convention

Edgar Degas' Girl Putting on Her Stockings (1876–1877) is one example of artwork conveying the effect of social expectations on the psyche. In the image, the girl is hunched over, with her head down and knee bent up as she pulls a stocking up her leg. She is nude and therefore exposed and vulnerable within the privacy of her own bedroom — but she is also exposed to the viewer and therefore to the public: she is witnessed as she truly is, without any pretense or façade. She is depicted in her natural state before she has dressed herself according to the conventions of her time, yet because she is also shown in the act of conforming to those conventions, Degas represents her in a particularly depressed manner, as though she felt the weight of conformity upon her shoulders.

There is no suggestion of any impropriety on her part — only a kind of world-weariness evident in the contrast between stark nudity and the downturned face hidden in shadow, as though a conflict existed between the body and the mind of the girl.

Munch's Scream and Existential Pressure

Another example is Edvard Munch's The Scream (1893), which depicts an individual buckling under the weight of mental anguish. The painting presents what might otherwise be a pleasant scene — a dock, a pair of lovers in the distance, a sky and swirling horizon — yet the central figure stares directly at the viewer with both hands pressed to either side of his face as he lets out a terrifying howl. The figure is somewhat abstracted and swirls in conformity with the impressionistic brushstrokes of the horizon, but inwardly the figure is not in union with his surroundings. A deep tension exists — though the artist provides no clear explanation for its source. Is it jealousy of the lovers in the distance? Crippling ennui giving way to existential frustration? Despair in the face of modernity? The guesses could go on and on.

The mood of the scene is what makes the painting so startling. Munch uses color and lines that are distorted and unsettling as they push and pull one another out of their contextual boundaries, so that sea swirls against sky, sky against light, and so on. Physically, the figure is warped like the swirling backdrop, pulled out of shape by forces that press upon him from every direction.

Conclusion: Art, Conformity, and the Physical Self

What the artists' works discussed in this essay have shown is that when an individual is struggling with society and with issues such as gender, race, equality, religion, or any other issue prevalent in society at a given time, there is a tension and negative impact on the individual's physical features: the individual becomes depressed and slumped, as in the Degas sketch; contorted and dispossessed of himself, as in Munch's Scream; or frightened and stripped of any clear physical identity, as with Tàpies' androgynous figure in Composition. The end result of an inability either to reconcile with society or to stand up for oneself is a frustration of the psyche that manifests in the physical body: what should be pure and radiant becomes disfigured, depressed, and frightening.

Thus, artworks can engage with public issues like gender or religion and invite viewers to engage with those issues as well. Society places demands on individuals no matter the circumstances: norms are defined by one group or another, and acceptance and tolerance are not universal. As a result, the physical self — the body as an expression of the psychical self — can display signs of tension when the individual feels so oppressed by the need to conform that he or she does not know what to do. Each of the three works examined here displays this tension clearly. Degas' girl is weighed down by the idea of getting dressed and appearing in the customary attire of her day, even as her face remains hidden in shadow; Munch's screamer buckles under society's demand that everything appear pleasant and beautiful on the outside, and delivers a vociferous protest against that decree; and Tàpies' figure, afraid of participating in a religious custom, loses all physical clarity so that the viewer must ask, "Who — or what — is this person?" In other words, society is a force that must be reckoned with, and social demands can impact and alter one's sense of self. However, if one asserts one's identity, one can deny society the power to deform the self and maintain happiness and peace even in the face of social pressure.

Works Cited

Akers, R., and W. Jennings. "Social Learning Theory." 21st Century Criminology: A Reference Handbook. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2009. Print.

Rodriguez, Mathew. "Transgender Woman's Selfie in a North Carolina Public Bathroom is the Best Selfie Ever." Yahoo! News, 23 Apr. 2016. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.

Schreck, C., and T. Hirschi. "Social Control Theory." 21st Century Criminology: A Reference Handbook. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2009. Print.