The work “A Clockwork Orange” – by Anthony Burgess – follows the story of the young delinquent Alex, who, due to his criminal lifestyle and his eventual apprehension by the authorities, goes through psychological conditioning, administered by the dictatorial government in force in the portrayed dystopia.

This treatment is carried out with the aim of “curing” him of his propensity for inappropriate (and illegal) behaviors – which were harmful to the goal of maintaining order and norms in society, highly esteemed by the authoritarian rulers in the book. Such repression, carried out for the sake of preserving the established structure, also exists outside of fiction and is noticeable in contemporary life.

When a person loses their individuality, in an attempt to fit in with the crowd and participate in the mass, they start to follow certain patterns; not only in behavior, but also in consumption and thought. In other words, amid mass behaviors, there is a tendency towards excessive acquisition, for example, or even the development of a herd mentality.

This theory describes the tendency that people may have to neglect their individual ideas and feelings to integrate with a certain group, adopting the conduct of those around them. In this manner, the individual gives up their uniqueness and autonomous thinking so that they can become socially compatible with the other members of said class.

Adhering to the state of conformity to a generalized model of behavior causes, in theory, a “relationship between a plurality of elements” – the Oxford dictionary definition of the noun “order”. Thus, massification and, in general, control over collective thought are what make order possible; that is, from the perspective of those who impose those very principles. In other words, the use of this term to define the state of an entire structure is subjective.

In a way, the contemporary world is not in disorder, as it presents its individuals in a homogeneous way, even if this is intrinsically linked to the dehumanization and erasure of those who do not conform to such parameters. This concept of massification is explored by the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset, in his work “The Rebellion of the Masses”.

Thus, it is noted that order is present in different ways in the current capitalistic world, but this does not denote favorable conditions of existence, or even harmony among the population. The attempt to regulate human behavior in the name of maintaining the current arrangement – ​​beneficial to capitalist principles – manifests, on the contrary, a robotic and cold view of the human race; depriving it of its basic right to uniqueness and self-thought. As if people were programmable or even artificial. Like a Clockwork Orange; a system that waits for the next order to be followed, fears its own individuality and delights in the pleasures of conformity.