Conformity

Category: Fields of research

Sociological Studies of Conformity

Sociologists such as Émile Durkheim Talcott Parsons, and Robert K. Merton, whose main focus was understanding how social order is preserved, considered conformity a process of internalizing fundamental social norms and values through socialization. From that perspective, conformity is positive, as it ensures that all people follow the same rules and thus maintain social order. Merton made the distinction between shared goals, interests, and purposes, on the one hand, and institutionalized norms that prescribe acceptable ways of achieving goals and interests, on the other. When the goals, rules, and possibilities for achieving the goals align, conformity develops, enabling the maintenance of stability and continuity in society.

Sociologists of left ideological persuasions have often seen conformity as a negative both for an individual and for society. In Society of the Spectacle (1967), Guy Debord studies the transformation of society from one organized around the production and consumption of goods, to a society organized around the consumption of spectacle. The society of the spectacle is created by the hegemonic integration of the media and consumer culture. In that society, institutions socialize people and produce artificial social relationships through images. In this created world, there is a void between consumers and producers, while the social world can only be experienced through the accumulation of spectacle. The spectacle becomes fully present in social life and loses its connection with goods. In the society of the spectacle, life is reduced to consumption, and social status becomes tied to certain logos and brands. The spectacle exercises social control, not by force, but by destroying creativity and creating consensus on collective desires. Financial institutions, corporations, urban planners, and architects, as well as marketing experts, use magazines, advertisements, films, and other media, through which they create images and spectacles that produce conformism and normalize domination.

Psychological Studies of Conformity

Leon Festinger made the distinction between internalization of social rules (attitudes and behavior are aligned and conform to rules), and compliance to rules (individual’s behavior conforms to social rules, while his beliefs don’t). Psychological studies, such as those done by Leon Festinger, Solomon Asch, Vernon L. Allen, Irving Janis, David A. Wilder, Stanley Milgram, and Morton Deutsch, have identified several factors that increase the likelihood of conforming behavior: 1) societies and groups that restrict its members from leaving will have more conformity, 2) conformity is more often when dissent is punished, 3) individuals who lack confidence are more likely to conform, 4) individuals conform more when majority consists of people from the same social category, 5) as the percentage of people with the same behavior gets higher, higher are the chances of conforming to that behavior, 6) in collectivistic cultures conformity is higher, 7) conformity is higher in cohesive groups, 8) conformity is more likely in polarized situations, 9) presence of people of high authority who demand compliance increases the chances of conformity.

Allport Henry presented his J-curve hypothesis of conforming behavior in the article “The J-curve Hypothesis of Conforming Behavior” (1934). This hypothesis states that the percentage of the overall population that follows social rules, that is, shows conforming behavior, is distributed on the graph in reverse J-curve; which means that the overwhelming majority of people strictly follow social rules, while with an increment of severity of the deviation from the rules percentage of people drops sharply. Jean-Paul Sartre introduced the concept of "bad faith" – a form of self-deception or lying to oneself to avoid responsibility. In Sartre’s view, individuals often conform to societal norms, roles, and expectations as a way of evading the responsibility that comes with absolute freedom.

Theodor Adorno led a team of scientists who conducted extensive empirical research among American citizens, who had an authoritarian personality as its subject. This research was published in the book Authoritarian Personality (1950). During the research, over two thousand respondents were interviewed, through surveys and in-depth interviews. The questions referred to the political and economic attitudes towards other ethnic groups, as well as the personal attitudes of the respondents. The theoretical part of the research used Freud's theory of personality development, to connect the way of raising children, which includes physical punishment and instability of parental attention and love, with the development of an authoritarian personality structure. This type of upbringing produces children's aggression towards their parents, but this aggression is sublimated in adulthood and is directed at social groups that are perceived as weak or inferior, while at the same time, the person submits to authoritarian leaders, who unconsciously represent the parent figure. The consequence of this personality development is a weak ego, conformism to conventional social values, intolerance of ambivalence, cynicism, and a tendency towards superstition. To empirically measure the expression of this personality structure in individuals, the authors developed the so-called F scale (F is abbreviated from fascism because the premise was that this type of personality is prone to accept fascist values). Research has found that this type of personality is prevalent in all social groups and classes.

Anthropological Studies of Conformity

Ruth Benedict examined Japan's national character in The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946). The most important values in Japanese society are concepts of hierarchy and indebtedness, which are in stark contrast to the most important American values of equality and freedom. Japanese people see family and social relationships as grounded in indebtedness and hierarchy, and the greatest imperative for any Japanese individual is to fulfill their familial and social duties, as a form of repayment of debt to the supreme authority, whether in the family or the society. A sense of self-respect is tied to the execution of these duties and subjugation to authority.

References:

Adorno. The Authoritarian Personality (1950);

- The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture (2006);

Allport, Henry. “The J-curve Hypothesis of Con-forming Behavior”; in Journal of Social Psychology (1934).

Asch, Solomon. “Studies of Independence and Conformity: A Minority of One against a Unanimous Majority”, in

Psychological Monographs (1956);

Bond, Rod, and Peter B. Smith. “Culture and Conformity: A Meta-Analysis of Studies Using Asch’s Line Judgement

Task”, in Psychological Bulletin (1996);

Debord. Society Of The Spectacle (2021, in French 1967);

Deutsch, Morton, and Harold B. Gerard. “A Study of Normative and Informational Social Influence upon Individual Judgement”, in Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology (1955);

Festinger, Leon. “Informal Social Communication”, in Psychological Review (1950);

Festinger, Leon. “An Analysis of Compliant Behaviour”. In Muzafer Sherif, and M. O. Wilson (ed.). Group Relations at the Crossroads (1953);

Festinger, Leon. “A theory of social comparison processes”, in Human Relations (1954);

Fromm. Escape from Freedom (1941);

- Man for Himself (1947);

- The Sane Society (1955);

Horkheimer. Dialectics of the Enlightenment (1972, in German 1947);

Illich. Deschooling Society (1970);

Janis, Irving L. Victims of Groupthink (1972);

Marcuse. One-Dimensional Man (1964);

Mead, Margaret. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946).

Merton, Robert K. “Social Structure and Anomie”, in Social Theory and Social Structure (1957);