Conformity And Social Norms

As individuals of a larger society, we obey or follow the under lying rules that are implied by members and reinforce them upon others subconsciously without a second thought. Conformity is the foundation of our social norms and it is the only reason why it still exist. When one conforms by acting or displaying one’s self as the public perceives, he or she is contributing to a social norm. People in this generation are being taught on how to behave and live their everyday lives based on the social norms that have been formed over time through means of media or older generations. Conformers’ decisions and ideas of success has already been made for them even before they are born. Conformity is so influential in humans that it affects us through
In school, many students conform to protect themselves from being picked and teased on for not being considered normal to today’s society. One of the main things that adolescents conform to at this part of their life is the sports they participate in. The sports we play at this age are dictated by the social norms of the American society. For instance, American football is highly encouraged for males of our society. According to the National Federation of State High School Association’s in 2012, there was 1,604 girls that played high school football while on the other hand, 1,086,627 boys played in football (Gillis, Para. 4). Obviously there is an underlying reason why very few girls play football and it is due to social norms. If a girl likes the idea of football it would be against social norms to engage in the sport. Girls would have a very difficult time trying to participate in football because of the pressure from peers and adults, who encourage them to stray away from sports that society believes is only acceptable for men. There are also numerous sports that are thought to be feminine only and more geared toward the female gender. Cheerleading is a sport or activity that is thought to be more for women than men. Pamela J argued that “cheerleading is a school-affiliated activity that remains popular in spite of the increase in sports’ opportunities for girls in
There is an idea that men work harder than women. For example one very typical stereotype consist of a growing man wanting to go into a profession that requires hard work and heavy pay, while a woman would want to have a less physical demanding job. A male conforms to this social norm by going through high school and envisioning a job with hard labor that displays his manliness, strength and heavy perseverance. The male would also refuse to think of an alternative of his labor intensive such as office work, which was often usually looked at as a female job. The last thing a woman would be thinking about is working construction. She conforms by envisioning working in an office or hospital, something that does not require a lot of hard work, yet shows her uniqueness and smartness. This social norm has been effecting many American’s by straying them away from jobs, that some really want to excel at, and attract them to what would so called be the ideal job in society