pears773: April 2012 Archives

Of all of the topics covered this far, I believe that social conformity will stick with me the longest because it is something that happens to most of us everyday without realizing it most of the time. But now after covering social conformity in class I find ways in which I conform to others everyday.

Every day of our lives we all encounter situations of social pressure. Although one may not always be aware of it there is social pressure everywhere. One common example I can think of is going to the library, something we all can relate to because we are all college students. When going to the library it is just known that silence is expected. The library is a place where social conformity is expected. But how much would you conform in other situations?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC_JfCWYnTQ&feature=related

One example of social conformity is this clip from show candid camera. The clip is a group of people in an elevator, one being a random person and the rest all actors. All the actors have been told to face the back and then turn to see if the stranger will conform. He does conform so they decide to see how far they can take it. The two other men in the elevator remove their hats and just to conform, the stranger does as well.

This is an extreme and comical example of conformity, but it shows just how much social pressures affect us. While most of the time these conformities are small and don't have any real side affects, are there situations where they could be potentially dangerous? How far do you think one would go to conform to social pressures?

Every culture has a different perspective of love and marriage, some places believe in arranged marriage and others believe in marrying someone for love. Popular American culture has very distinct ways of looking at love and marriage. I believe that as children we all grew up thinking about our marriages at least on occasion. I would also bet that most of us at some point dressed up as a bride or groom and imitated an american wedding as a game. I definitely did, I think by this point i've been married 4 or 5 times.

When looking at a show like Say Yes to the Dress, there are so many examples of how our culture thinks of love. The majority of women that go on that show tell a story of how they met their husband and when they knew that he was the one. A lot of those brides stories of how they met have to do with someone that they've always known or have worked with for years. This shows the affects of proximity on love and relationships. The more time that you spend with or around someone the more likely it is that you'll find them attractive.

For those of you in relationships, do they fit the classic american views? or if not, what differentiates you guys from it?