Conformity
Conformity is properly distinguished from imitation by limiting its use to cases in which the affected individual on his own definitely would not perform the action modeled for him by his peers, cases in which the individual has his own reasons for thinking the modeled action is a mistake and yet, because of the force of example, performs it.
Roger Brown (1986)
That
Stigma
To the page of which this is the alter ego.
photograph again - but not quite. This page turns to the flip side of stigma, there is no standing out if there is nothing to stand out against. Social orderliness - it is this which makes standing out possible, here three elements are conspicuous:
imitation,
On the possibly innate nature of imitation in primates.
conformity and pattern recognition. While imitation (like stigma) is not a matter of choice, conformity is similar to breathing, normally unnoticed, but controllable when required. Conformity rests on Brown’s ‘force of example’ which provides the glue that binds social animals into groups and without which we would not have societies, let alone cultures. While imitation seems wired-in for some complex species, not least humans, conformity appears later in evolution, shaping inter-actions, rather than individual actions. This arrival seems to coincide with a sophisticated ability to recognise
patterns,
Acknowledging the fundamental importance of pattern recognition.
and these, together with
co-operation,
Co-operation lies at the root of human language.
are not only fundamental to language, but to the very nature of human social life.
The quote is from page 36 of Brown’s Social Psychology The Second Edition published by Free Press, New York. The first edition had appeared 21 years previously, both these landmark works were published from within the Macmillan group, but apart from the good sense of the author, and repartition of key themes, they have rather little in common. The Asch experiments, around which the idea of conformity revolves, showed some of the dynamics of participating within a group, and the individual’s dilemmas in conforming to that group.
The photograph on the Stigma page had been changed, this is the unchanged photograph of a shop window taken in Spain 40 years ago.
Above, hovering on blue introduces a link: click to go, move away to stay.
Saturday 6th July 2024
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