A metal alloy used for bearings and anti-friction surfaces; also describes a conventional, conformist person (from the novel 'Babbitt').
The alloy is named after Isaac Babbitt who patented it in 1839. The character sense comes from Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel 'Babbitt,' about a mediocre businessman.
One novel created a permanent English word: Lewis's 'Babbitt' was so perfectly mediocre that calling someone a 'babbitt' (small-b) became the insult for shallow conformists who never question anything!
Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel created the eponym 'Babbitt' (conformist businessman); the protagonist is male, and the term became coded masculine, applied disproportionately to male conformism in business culture.
Use as gender-neutral concept; when discussing conformism, apply observations across genders equally. Avoid implying conformity is exclusively or primarily male.
["conformist","uncritical consumer","status-seeker"]
Women's non-conformism in business was often invisible; celebrate women entrepreneurs and rebels who resisted conformity within patriarchal business structures.
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