Conformity And Social Norms

Conformity is a form of social influence that involves you to change your beliefs to fit in with a group. This change is due to the physical presence of the group members, or imagined group pressure that involves the pressures of social norms. In the public services compliance with common practices is following a particular course of action which is the social norm. It can be seen when the police are dealing with suspects as the suspect is innocent until proven guilty and the law should not be taken upon in one person’s hands.
Social Norms can be as common as being polite by saying sorry in certain situations. But the norms of the public services can be seen as members taking account of the social norms or implementing them upon themselves.
Police may comply with social norms by simply letting drivers pass a junction with priority and just being polite overall when on the beat.
Self-esteem could be defined as the opinions we have of ourselves.
A high self-esteem you consider yourself to have a sense of worth and have self-respect. However, by having a low self-esteem you tend to feel insecure which can relate to the individuals upbringing and background. This has got great importance in the public services as if you have low self-esteem as a public service member you will not have that sense of self-respect when wearing the uniform, therefore not looking the part when in the eyes of the general public and on inspections. It’s not only that but some parts of the uniform like a fire fighter’s uniform is personal protective equipment, PPE. It has to be worn when out on the job to help prevent the risk of burns and other injuries. Wearing a uniform makes you recognisable by the public so they know if you are an individual that holds a position of authority, it also a symbol a unity, it shows that you are a police officer if you wear all the equipment and clothing. But you wear it with pride such as a green beret in the Royal Marines; it proves that they have successfully completed their training and that they are the elite of the elite as a Royal
Marine.
Everyone who joins a public service knows that they are part of a team. Camaraderie is vital in all teams not just the public services. All the team members want to be accepted so they will conform to the norms of that particular team. If only one member of that team doesn’t conform, as well as not getting accepted into the team it has a chance at it will lower the morale and the overall performance of that team.
As part of human behaviour obedience is a form of social influence when a person obeys a person in a position of authority.
Obedience is needed in the public services to carry out orders that are given. If there are no obedient members in the public services it could lead to the loss of life as orders will not be followed and orders are given for that reason. Obedience can be unconscious or conscious. New recruits that join any uniformed public service may find that taking orders is a bit strange and that they are not used to it. However, after they have passed a certain stage they will start to obey the orders and won’t have to think about what they are doing as much, it will become second nature, this is called unconscious obedience. This form of obedience is vital in emergency situations when an instant response is
needed.
Almost all of the uniformed public services have a clear rank structure. Each rank carries its own roles and responsibilities as well as its status and authority, which means that lower ranks must obey any orders that are given by higher ranks. This is an accepted norm as part of the public services. There are some exceptions to this such as, if a road traffic collision, (RTC) were to happen in this case the police will take overall control and give the directions and orders to the other emergency services at the scene. However, if there was a chemical spillage, the fire and rescue service will take overall charge as they are the experts in that field so they will give the orders. It depends on the situation of the incident on who takes overall control.
There are certain influences that can change the way that orders are obeyed. Two of them are, fear and reward. Fear can change the manner because if you are given an order and it involves you risking your life you will try and find a way around that you won’t be risking your life as much or not at all, this could result in the task not being done properly and risking more people’s lives to fix the problem caused by the first persons wrong doings. Reward will motivate you, depending on the nature of the reward it will either motivate you a lot or not a lot therefore you either trying your absolute best or you just going through the motions as the reward don’t bother you.
Obedience is relevant to the public services; the rank structure relies on absolute obedience by its members. In life-threatening situations all members involved need to have total trust in one another, and know that the orders that are given must be obeyed with no questions asked and acted on straight away.