Individuality and Inner Struggle Humans desire to have individuality. What isindividuality? It can be thought of as a combination ofqualities that distinguish one individual from another. Wanting to be different from others is a part of the humannature, but what is also a part of this nature is thelonging for social acceptance. Therefore, humans are alwayssearching for a way to fulfill both needs. Minou Fuglesangand Georg Simmel use fashion and envy, along with culture,in their writings to define the inner struggle of thehuman’s need to be an individual within a group.In order to understand how exterior influences causeinner struggle, one must understand what inner struggle is. Inner struggle can be illustrated by Plato’s example fromPhaedrus of the charioteer and his horses (31). In relationto fashion, envy, and culture, the charioteer representshumans and their wants. One could say that the two horsesrepresent two of the many different needs of human nature: one horse, individuality and the other horse, conformity. When all three come together, the horse of individuality andthe horse of conformity want to go in completely oppositedirections while the charioteer wants his horses to gostraight ahead, so the charioteer has an extremely difficulttime reining the horses. Like the charioteer, humans alsobattle with two sides that want to go different ways.Simmel argues that fashion is a tool used to expressone’s individuality in order to be accepted by others. Humans have two needs in society: “the need of union on theone hand and the need of isolation on the other” (Simmel301). They want to be seen as an individual, different fromeveryone, but they also want to be part of a group for thereassurance of their individuality. As Simmel states, “ . .. fashion represents . . . the tendency towards socialequalization with the desire for individual differentiationand change” (296). Fashion is...
