Conformity

During our junior year at my school, we are required to write a "junior essay." This was a required piece in order to pass the course. We had to write about a topic and how it affected the world.

People often use the term “go with the flow” but are people simply “going with the flow” or being conformists? And what exactly does being a conformist mean? In this essay, I will explain to you how conformity is displayed on a daily basis throughout history, in cultural views, and how conformity can be beneficial or not.

Conformity is known as “behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards.” Conformity has been around just as long as humans have been. It has been displayed in pieces of literature, such as the Crucible or the Great Gatsby. In the Crucible, the people of Salem are convinced that there is witchcraft in the town of Salem. Abigail Williams is the instigator throughout the book, having the town of Salem all believe her word on who is a witch and who is not.

In The Crucible, there were trials held for those accused of witchcraft in Salem. Abigail attends one of those trials, accusing Mary Warren of using witchcraft during the said trial. Abigail accuses Mary of being a little “yellow bird” and goes into hysterics over it. Eventually, Abigails friends join along with her and pretend to see the “yellow bird” as well.

Abigails friends contribute into a type of conformity known as “ingratiational conformity.” They changed their behavior to impress as well as gain social acceptance from Abigail. This said conformity was not fictionalized in the book “The Crucible.” In fact, trials like this have happened in the 1600’s for accused witch craft as well because a certain social group believed that their may have been witchcraft present due to a persons accusations.

In the Great Gatsby, conformity is shown more in a social matter. In the book, Nick Carraway lives in a small little house next to a rich man named Jay Gatsby. Throughout the book, you notice Nick’s behavior changing slightly to accommodate Gatsbys upper class behavior. Nick never really enjoyed the higher living lifestyle such as Gatsbys, but chose to go along with it anyway. This kind of conformity is known as “compliance.” Compliance conformity is changing a persons behavior to fit into a group, while secretly disagreeing on their views.

Compliance conformity is seen on a daily basis throughout the world. Compliance conformity is often displayed throughout different cultures, whether people are aware of it or not.

In the Middle East, people are forced to comply to the rules of their society or they will be greatly punished. The Middle East is mostly based on their religious views, so their life is a lot different than ours. People would conform to fit into that sort of behavior in fear of sticking out or being punished while secretly disagreeing so they don’t have to face those punishments from their government. Women are told to dress wearing Hijabs and clothes that cover their skin no matter the kind of weather that is currently going on. If women do not comply to those said social rules, then they are punished, sometimes even by being beaten to death in a public stoning.

In America, our culture views are a lot less strict than those in the Middle East. This may be somewhat a relief but the views of society can often make it hard on Americans to dress the way they want. Society has a certain view of how people should dress; don’t show too much skin, but don’t be afraid to cover up. Be yourself but don’t stick out. Do what you want but if you’re a woman, make sure it’s acceptable by men first or society because you may get shunned. People who don’t fit into society’s “perfect image” can either conform or chose to stick out.

Unfortunately, a lot of people chose to conform. If a person chooses to conform, society will finally approve of them but if a person does not chose to conform, then they are often shunned for being too “self expressive” or “socially inappropriate.” People who don’t conform often get labels like “freak” or “weird.”

People have actually gotten in trouble for not fitting into those social views of society. Some schools have rules against having certain piercings or colored hair. Having colored hair, piercings, or tattoos can often affect your life in negative ways because that’s not “socially acceptable.”

With that said, what is our culture rule in America? In the Middle East, women already know their culture rules but in America, there’s a big difference on what is deemed socially appropriate. How does one know what is “socially appropriate” if there’s no written set of rules? This is a problem seen daily when people are turned down for jobs because they have blue hair or a facial piercing that just isn’t “right” even though they may have all the qualifications needed for the job and then some.

Society’s views can not only affect a person from getting a job, but there’s been cases reported about these views affecting students as well. A student from Ark-La-Tex High School in Texas was suspended when she showed up to school with her hair red. The school said that in the dress code it is stated that students must have only have one toned, natural colored hair and that anything but is prohibited. Devin Gonzales, the student suspended, had dyed her hair a burgundy red color that was one toned. When she went to school, the principal suspended her until she died her hair more “normal.”

Should students have to miss school because of what society’s views are on how a person should look? Should the saying “the nail that sticks up gets hammered down” really be applied?

It’s highly unfair to be sent home just for having your hair a color that is too “distracting.” If it’s deemed “distracting” then maybe it’s “distracting” to students having to fear that they too, could be targeted by their administration just for simply looking the way that they do.

In a lot of ways, conformity can be labeled as “bad.” But in fact, throughout some of the negatives of conformity, there are some positives that go along with it.

The 1950’s can be known as a conformist state of mind because of how people acted. A lot of people wanted what everyone else wanted, to live the “American Dream.” It has been shown that people would often buy things that their neighbors have, just to have them and show they are just as great as them even though they don’t necessarily need that item so they can fit in.

In some ways, that’s very beneficial to our society because it helps our economy by pushing people to buy things. In high schools, you often see groups of people wearing the same brand clothing because they were influenced by one another to do so. If you see someone “popular” wearing something made by Hollister, then you might want to buy something from Hollister to fit in. By buying that item from Hollister, you are giving into “normative conformity.” Normative conformity is when you give into group pressure in order to fit into the group.

Conformity may help our economy because it influences people to buy things but a huge con of that is the loss of originality. If people always want something someone else has just to fit in, then they lose their sense of originality.

Originality is staying true to yourself. Yes, fitting into a group of people is always nice but there are other ways of doing so without conforming. You can agree on certain ideals without changing your behavior because of those ideals. If originality becomes dead because people are too busy conforming then America will lose a bit of it’s “touch.”

There won’t be much art because it’ll all look the same. There won't be new clothes because you’ll already have stuff that is way too similar to what you have in your closet. There won’t be any good movies or books to read because everything will all have a similar plot.

Conformity could ruin some things for us even though they do help our economy. Don’t forget to ask yourself if you’re just “going with the flow” or being a conformist next time you do something.

Author's Note

Ignore the references to "The Great Gatsby" and "The Crucible." I realize they aren't strong points, but we were required to add two books we have read in the class in our essays.