Challenge and Change in Society
HSB4M
ALIENATION AND CONFORMITY
‘The Power of Conformity’
 An example of people’s overwhelming needs
to conform to a social paradigm
 What is conformity?
Discussion Questions:
Video
 What are the triggers to conform in this
video?
 What feelings did the person in the
experiment feel to make them change their
behaviour?
 Vote: What would you have done in this
same situation?
Discussion Questions:
Society
 In today’s society – are there pressures to
conform? In what ways?
 What are the repercussions to not
“conforming”?
 After looking at this clip, think about how
people in society would act, what would
happen if everybody acted the same?
 How different would life be?
Alienation
 Refers to an individual separation from a
community or group of people in general
 This is also known as an anomie
 Refers to a personal condition resulting in a
lack of norms
 i.e. A totalitarian society would produce an
anomic individual such as Hitler
Isolation
 Known as a state of seclusion
 i.e. a lack of contact with people
 May stem from:
 Bad relationships
 Deliberate choice
 Contagious disease
 Repulsive personal habits
 Mental illness
Isolation in society
 Feeling marginalized in society could force
people to resist the social norm
 Unrest in society could lead to isolation, not
feeling included in society
Conformity
 Process whereby an individual’s attitudes,
beliefs and behaviours are influenced by
other people
 Could be the result of social pressure
 People often conform to achieve a sense of
security in a group of people – a feeling that
makes one ‘belong’
Pressures to Conform
 An unwillingness to conform could risk social
rejection
 An individual who is deliberately excluded
from a social relationship or social interaction
is a victim of social rejection.
 Conformity acts as a scapegoat in order to
avoid bullying and criticism from peers.
Key Questions for Today
 What groups in society may feel socially
isolated?
 Why is this?
 What groups in society are forced to
conform?
Conformity in Contemporary
Society
 Most people conform to the standard values
and norms without even realizing they are
doing so
 Some degree of conformity is necessary for
societies to function
 i.e. Stopping at a red light means that you are
conforming to the law and the good and
safety of society
Conformity and Youth
• Pre-teens and teenagers face many issues
related to conformity
• Pulled between the desire to be seen as unique
individuals and desire to belong to a group where
they feel accepted
• i.e. wearing the latest fashion, cutting your hair
into a certain style, smoking, changing the type
of music you listen to
• All of these are examples of conforming to a
social norm
Scenarios
• Discuss the following questions with your
group:
• A) What are the triggers to conform in this
scenario?
• B) What feelings did the person in the
situation feel to potentially make them
change their behaviour?
• C) What would you have done in this
situation?
Discussion
 Which situation would be the
most easy and most difficult in
terms of resisting conformity?
 Why?