Conformity: Social Influence On Young People's Identity

Conformity describes social influence that requires a change in beliefs or behaviours in order to assimilate with a groups norms. Conformity is governed by relationships to the social understanding and meanings of what is considered to be right and wrong within a given society. It includes the processes by which group members converge on any given standard of opinion or conduct, as well as the pressures they exert on one another to uphold such standards. As a culture, we understand what it means to conform to socially constructed norms and values, and as a society, we recognize that young people are exposed to considerable conformity demands within our society. It is evident that culture plays an important role in shaping young people’s identities. During adolescence, individuals are bombarded with external influences telling them who and what they should be. Young people have the influence of their parents, friends, the media, and their
As a society, we problematize adolescent rebellion as behavioural issues or ‘something wrong’ with an individual exhibiting rebellious behaviour. Therefore, we do not generally respect rebellion in adolescents. With that being said, our society insists on placing labels upon teenage behaviour. In our society, disruptive young people who rebel against authority figures have been increasingly diagnosed with mental illnesses and medicated with psychiatric drugs. For example, oppositional defiant disorder has been published in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and is describe as young people who consistently display argumentative behaviour. In accordance with this, What we expect from young people is often times confusing and unrealistic. We consider teenagers to know what they want to pursue professionally for the rest of their lives, but we expect them to conform to traditional social norms without