Question: The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
The weight of society’s expectations is hardly a new phenomenon but it has become particularly draining over recent decades, perhaps because expectations themselves are so multifarious and contradictory. The perfectionism of the 1950s was rooted in the norms of mass culture and captured in famous advertising images of the ideal white American family that now seem self-satirising. In that era, perfectionism meant seamlessly conforming to values, behaviour and appearance: chiselled confidence for men, demure graciousness for women. The perfectionist was under pressure to look like everyone else, only more so. The perfectionists of today, by contrast, feel an obligation to stand out through their idiosyncratic style and wit if they are to gain a foothold in the attention economy.
The passage talks about how perfectionism of 1950s meant conforming to values, behaviour and appearance. But perfectionists of today in contrast feel an obligation to stand out.
Option (b) captures this essence perfectly.
Option (a) empahsizes that people will go to any length for perctionism which is not mentioned in the passage.
Option (c): The passage doen't discuss role of media in perpetuating perfectionism. The passage only mentions about advertising and not the role of media.
Option (d): The passage does not mention conflict due to idea of perfectionism not defined. The idea of perfectionism has changed in modern times, but it did not lead to tension and conflicts.
Hence, option (b).