In-groups are not just limited to large, broad generalizations but each one can have individual sub-groups as Allport states: “Thus, in-groups are often recreated to fit the needs of individuals,”(4). In-groups are not limited to their broadest points, but each have subcultures based on different circumstances. The punk in-group promotes a sense of discord and is a clique that has oppressing
Throughout high school, I noticed a strange behavior among teenaged students; they tend to form groups. During lunchtime, these groups or cliques are more prevalent; you can see the freshman guys sitting with each other, the football players, the cheerleaders, the senior “nerds”, the international students and the outcasts (aka that was me), the people who sat alone or the people that you would not find at the cafeteria tables. These cliques are not only common at my high school where I used to attend but also widespread around other schools across the country. Whatever clique you are a part of, that clique defines your reputation throughout high school. In the movie, Mean Girls, cliques play an important role throughout the movie.
Introduction: Social norms are the base templates which guide our behavior everyday. Social norms entail an expected behavior based off of those norms, and that we will conform to those expectations on a regular basis. These norms rise from our evolution of social dynamics. As the people in a society consistently interact with each other and other components of society, people begin to form a certain set of expectations on how the interactions and situations should proceed. As a large portion of society begins to conform to this standard, the certain behaviors that one would have in a particular situation will start to be considered as normative behaviors.
Some peer groups can be good and some can be bad. The peer group that I was a part of in high school was bad. In high school I was always a little different and did not have many fiends because the clique or peer group in my high school used the Social Typing which is a “labeling process that begins when a person violates a norm. Negate sanctions are applied to norm violates in the form of criticisms, punishments, and/or labels.” They labeled me as a “dorky weird girl.”
“Be who you were created to be, and you will set the world on fire.” St. Catherine of Siena, Scholastic philosopher and theologian. In my opinion, being oneself is greater than copying those who have been successful, for the achievements are yours and no one else’s; in addition, remaining true to yourself is essential since you find who you truly are and who you are meant to be. For starters, it is crucial to be yourself because each time you look at a mirror, you distinguish your own self, no one else. For instance, in Jerry Spinelli's, “Stargirl” the main character is forced to change and be like those around her, and they try to manipulate her personality by forcing her to be normal.
Nonconformity: Self over Acceptance Nowadays, society’s foundation is based solely off of acceptance and conformity. Conformity has unfortunately become a social norm and has caused our once flowing originality to become boring and non-creative. Our society is so conformed that we have forgotten the meaning of being unique and distinct from everyone else.
The environment in which an individual grows up in can affect life greatly. Our surroundings influence one’s personality, self-expression, and individuality, otherwise known as identity. Finding one’s true self is the most grueling stage of life and expectations of family and society make the process even harder. One’s true identity can sometimes clash with hopes of others, thus breaking tradition and/or family ties. Pressure to change will always be present, but staying true to uniqueness will prevail.
On the other side of social groups, you have the outsiders’ clicks. Emo, shy, kids with anxiety and/or depression of course the poor, and what most people consider to be nerds and geek. Typically, when people think of an emo person, they assume it’s someone depressed. Not all emo kids are depressed; a majority of them actually just like dark music and things. Shy and anxiety are normally classified as the same thing, by anxiety is wanting to talk to people but having the fear you will say the wrong thing.
How others see you is influenced by material, social, and physical constraints. This causes a tension between how much control you have in constructing your own identity and how much control or constraint is exercised over you. How we see ourselves and how others see us differ in many ways, but is an important factor of our identity. “A Lesson Before Dying”,
Figuring out groups for high school leadership students so they can be with their friends and people they can work well with is a daunting
In Mean Girls, the students are divided into very defined cliques, like the band nerds, jocks, popular girls, and math geeks. In real high schools, the cliques are not that defined. They still have cliques like those, but many of the students are in more than one clique and some of the cliques group together. Most of the of the students like to spend time with the people they like, so in many cases groups have a variety of people in it. An example of this would be a group that has a band nerd, a jock, and a math geek.
I disliked being in groups and then even more because they were not my friends plus I had never in my life seen them before. Then again to this day I thank my 9th grade biology teacher because if she had not paired me up with them I would had not meet my current best friends. In the group project the girls and I had to work together and come to a compromise of what our project was going to be about.
A personal experience i had, is as a child in middle school i was put under so much pressure to be the same as my peers. Even though I wasn’t the same, or didn’t fit into their category. Yet I tried hard to be and always worried about what people would say. Later in High school i developed a Panic Attack disorder from the stress of middle school. I was forced to try and be someone i wasn’t that I didn’t know who i wanted to be, or who i really
It’s all about connecting with yourself within and knowing who you are. You have to be honest with yourself and know exactly who you are before you can live a good life. Meyers points out that its important to know who you truly are just based on personal reasons and for important cases like “moral and political autonomy”. What I took away from this quote was don’t get caught up in someone else’s group and remain silent but to tap into your true being and flourish. 2.
Many people are stuck on what other people want them to be. Most people get bullied into silence and i was like that at out point until i found myself in actions of helping other. Most of the people nowadays have no idea what self expression is or what it means. I want to keep helping people find them true self. I want to see people in this world become the real them and stop hiding behind something they're not and have a self expression for the world to see.