The Role Of Conformity In Today's Society

“Rebel children, I urge you, fight the turgid slick of conformity with which they seek to smother your glory.” –Russell Brand

Today’s society remains a complex paradox within itself, growing more and more ambiguous as people desire to simultaneously fit in and stand out. Conforming to today’s society also provides confusion because although it is human nature, the idea of conformity has grown hazy due to new ideas, expectations and acceptance from the new generation. The primary root of it adapts from people’s interpretations of “what if” rather than “what do I want,” which is an issue because the most important characteristic of a person has become not what others what, but what we ourselves want. Lately, even I, a teenager desperate for acceptance, have wondered what conformism truly means in this rapidly changing world, and why so many people fall ill to it.

The internet says conformity is “the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms… that guide their interactions with others.” Everyone conforms in some way, whether they intend to or not. In

First comes compliance, in which a person parallels to others’ behavior in public while privately disagreeing with the change. Second falls internalization, where a person actually accepts the changes into their own beliefs. Then comes identification, in which a person imitates the behavior of a job or image. Lastly falls “ingrational” conformity, used to please others. The reasons behind conformity fall into two categories: normative and informational. Normative conformity appears from fear of rejection, most often involving compliance. Informational conformity, on the other hand, occurs when a person adjusts his or her behavior in order to understand