1. Alienation and Conformity
Forces of Social Change

2. What is Conformity?
An example of people’s overwhelming need to conform to a social paradigm
Conformity: act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours to what individuals perceive as normal to their society or social group
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’

3. In today’s society – are there pressures to conform? In what ways?
What are the repercussions to not “conforming”?

4. 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

5. Examples of conformity
(end after mean girls example)

6. The Peer Pressure experiment

7. 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?
After looking at this clip, think about how people in society would act, what would happen if everyone acted the same?
How different would life be?

8. What is Alienation?
Alienation  estrangement or distance of people from each other, from what they find meaningful, or from their sense of self
The state of being (or feeling) alone, separate, different (separate from a community or group of people in general)
Also known as anomie – personal condition resulting in a lack of norms
For example: a totalitarian society would produce an anomic individual such as Hitler

9. Max Weber
Max Weber, a famous German sociologist, was concerned that social values of grace and compassion would be replaced by cold values
According to sociologist, Max Weber, people provoke social change when they feel isolated from society

10. Karl Marx
German sociologist, believed that alienation refers to the separation of things that naturally belong together
Putting something in between 2 things that belong in harmony
Believed that alienation was a systematic result of capitalism

11. What is Isolation? Known as a state of seclusion
Example: lack of contact with people
May stem from:
Bad relationships
Deliberate choice
Contagious disease
Repulsive personal habits
Mental illness

12. Isolation in society
Feeling marginalized in society would force people to resist the social norm
Unrest in society could lead to isolation, not feeling included in society

13. Key Questions What groups in society may feel socially isolated? Why?
What groups in society are forced to conform?

14. Vision test experiment

15. The Asch Experiment
The Asch Experiment by American psychologist Solomon E. Asch
Performed in the 1950’s that demonstrated the power of conformity in groups
Asch asked groups of students to participate in a “vision test”
All but one of the participants were being experimented
The study was about how the remaining student would react to participant answers

18. 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
Example: stopping at a red light means that you are conforming to the law and the good and safety of society

19. 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
Examples: 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

20. Scenarios A) what are the triggers to conform in this scenario?
Discuss the following questions:
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?

21. Scenario 1:
You are waiting to cross the street and the light is red. A group of pedestrians start to cross the street before the green light even though there remains some risk of oncoming traffic. What do you do?

22. Scenario 2:
You are looking to throw something out at a concert but the garbage is full. You see people just throwing garbage on the ground around the garbage can. What do you do?

23. Scenario 3:
You have been standing in line for hours waiting to buy tickets for a concert. A group of 6 people try to “bud” in line with a friend. The people waiting start yelling and objecting as there are only a specific amount of tickets. What do you do?

24. Scenario 4:
A university student approaches you and a bunch of your friends offering to sell you his/her old assignments and copy of tests from last year for this class. All of your friends agree to this and are waiting for your decision. What do you do?

25. Scenario 5:
You have just started a new job and are sitting around with your new co-workers. Someone tells a joke that is very racist and everyone is laughing and starts telling more racist jokes that you find offensive. What do you do?

26. Scenario 6:
A bunch of you are at a friends for dinner – after dinner all your friends get up from the table and leave their plates as you are late for a party. You have been brought up to always clear your plate from the table and help clean up. What do you do?

27. Discussion
Which situation would be the most easy and most difficult in terms of resisting conformity? Why?

28. Deviant A deviant is someone who breaks a social rule
Social rules can either be written ( laws and rules) or unwritten ( normal ways of behaving)
Think of a law we all must obey
Think of any rule we must all keep even though it is not a law.
Deviant behaviour depends on:
A) the situation
B) the culture
A person who is deviant in one country might be considered perfectly normal in another

29. Are the following forms of behaviour deviant or not? What do you think?
Chewing gum in class
Standing on desks
Wearing wedding clothes to a sandy beach
Body piercings
Watching television while eating dinner
Speeding in a car
Buying cigarettes under age
Long hair on males; bald heads on females
Never telling fibs even to save people’s feelings
Giving away money to anyone who asks for it
Drinking while under age at a family function
Getting a tattoo
Drinking while under age with friends

30. What is your reaction to Breastfeeding vs. sexy
Other social experiments done:
Muslim Bullying Social Experiment (ISIS Islamophobia Social Experiment)
Racism, Black vs White (Social Experiment)

31. Task
You are now to fill out the alienation and conformity as forces chart