Essay about Cultural Conformity - 1473 Words

By definition, discrimination is the cruel treatment towards a person of a specific group, according to his or her classification or status. For centuries, discrimination has been a big issue in many countries over race, socioeconomic status, appearance and ethnicity. Racism continues to exist primarily not only in the United States, but also in Europe and South America, with attempts to block minorities from any opportunities. In Rick Bragg’s memoir, All Over but the Shoutin, Bragg reveals the influence of racism on the modern world. The effects of these unjust social practices can be felt throughout humanity today. Rick Bragg’s memoir, All Over but the Shoutin, explores his journey to find his identity. Raised in Piedmont, Alabama,†¦show more content†¦This conception eventually influenced the phrase â€Å"White Trash,† a derogatory term in which affluent white men describing the poor whites living in the United States under a substandard lifestyle. Later in his memoir, Bragg provides an account where a local fraternity from Jacksonville State throws a celebration for the children of poor families. Initially, Rick extends his gratitude for the fraternity’s kindness, but then has trouble relating to them because their cultural differences. Bragg describes them as affluent people, not â€Å"rich by Manhattan standards, but Possum trot ones,† (Bragg 97). He finds himself embarrassed and bitter at the ignorance of the individuals who live with their backs turned to society. Bragg wished to capture the â€Å"degree of meanness, degrees of hatred, and of ignoranc e,† that plagued the world (Bragg 62). Just like him, thousands of citizens in United State experience prejudice and social prejudice at least once in their lifetime. What makes it more upsetting is that the dehumanization and ridicule involved due to one’s current condition greatly impacts a person’s likelihood to succeed. To an extent, society has learned to embrace cultural differences. For example, countries like England and China share some common interests such as in music artists like Michael Jackson and Ray Charles. However, this isn’t always the case for everyone. People, like Bragg, lived in a world where those around him would not accept him,Show MoreRelatedCultural Conformity and Race Essay1549 Words   |  7 Pagescitizens in United State experience prejudice and social disparity at least once in their lifetime. What makes it more upsetting is the dehumanization and ridicule involved due to one’s current condition. To an extent, socie ty has learned to embrace cultural differences but that’s not always the case. People, like Bragg, lived in a world where those around him would not accept him, poverty left him with virtually nothing, and his family was forced to make sacrifices to survive. Bragg grasped the discriminationRead MoreThe Effects of Cultural Assimilation: Conformity vs. Unorthodoxdy2124 Words   |  9 PagesThe Effects of Cultural Assimilation: Conformity vs. Unorthodoxdy â€Å"Cultural assimilation is a complex and multifaceted process that first involves immigrants learning the language, cultural norms, and role expectations of the absorbing society, and further changes in attitudes†, or so it is explained by Dejun Su, Chad Richardson, and Guang-zhen Wang, in their article, â€Å"Assessing Cultural Assimilation of Mexican Americans: How Rapidly Do Their Gender-Role Attitudes Converge to the U.S. MainstreamRead MoreA Typology Of Fashion Violence Essay1692 Words   |  7 Pagesincludes diagrams,statistics, and experimental results to prove the impact of luxury brands on adolescence. Klucharev,Vasily, Kaisa Hytonen, Mark Rijpkema, Ale Smidts, and Guillen Fernandez. â€Å"Reinforcement Learning Signal Predicts Social Conformity.† Neuron 61.1 (2009): 140-51. Web. This article published in the Neuron, one of the most influential journals for neuroscientists, explores the brain to figure out why humans conform to society. The authors, a group of scientists from the DondersRead MoreThe Social Influence Of Minority And Minority Influence1491 Words   |  6 Pageswhy people conform and the factors that make them more likely to conform. Conformity is defined as â€Å"a form of social influence in which a person yields to group pressure in the absence of any explicit order or request from another person to comply, as in the Asch experiment† (Colman, or Dictionary of Psychology, 2009). Conformity encompasses majority and minority influence. Kelman (1958) proposed three types of conformity for influence of a majority; Compliance, internalisation and identificationRead MoreA Sorority Is A Subculture Or A Segment Of Society s Population1452 Words   |  6 Pagesbanned the sororities on campus because some of the hazing has gotten so bad on thei r campus. Sororities have become high and pop culture all around the world on many college campuses. High culture are the â€Å"cultural patterns that distinguish a society’s elite† while pop culture is â€Å"cultural patterns that are widespread among a society’s population† (Macionis 63). Sororities are known for only accepting one type of girl into their sororities and they are usually the elite group of girls on campusRead MoreEssay on Conformity and Political Control1353 Words   |  6 Pagesto others. Although there are many explicit forms of conformity, there are also implicit forms of conformity that affect the attitudes and behavior of people on a subconscious level. The major problem with the modern bi-partisan political system is that it is fundamentally built on the idea that people will conform to others that are associated with them socially. Chartrand and Bargh completed one of the more famous experiments on conformity in 1999 where they were able to illustrate that peopleRead More Teen Conformity in Sinclair Lewis Babbitt and in Society Today3030 Words   |  13 PagesTeen Conformity in Babbitt and in Society Today      Ã‚   In society today, people feel the need to belong. They feel as though they have to be a part of something in order to feel special. At times, they will go so far as to lose their individuality and submit themselves into complete ignorance just to be able to know that there is someone or something to which they can always fall back on. Conformity is one of the most common and most apparent forms of Babbittry in the twenty - first centuryRead MoreSocial Influence On Social Psychology1870 Words   |  8 PagesPsychologists focus on the situation. They study the social influences that describe why the same person will act inversely in different situations. Theorists have typically distinguished between three types of social influence which are compliance, conformity, and obedience. Compliance is often referred to as an active form of social influence in that it is usually intentionally initiated by a person where they may choose to comply or not to comply. Yet, the thoughts of social reward and punishmentRead MoreSocial Influence Refers To Changes In An Individual’S Own1776 Words   |  8 Pagesattitude and behaviours in accordance with other individuals or groups thoughts and feelings (Moussaid, Kammer, Analytis Neth, 2013). There are three main forms of social influence, these includes conformity, compliance and obedience which has an impact on the daily lives of people in the society. Conformity can be referred to as when a person changes their attitudes to fit into the social norms of different groups. The concept of obedience takes place when an individual follow the instructions of othersRead MoreConformity And How It Affects People Today2207 Words   |  9 Pagessociety must uphold to. My group decided to conduct experiments on conformity and how it affects people today. So, what exactly is conformity? Our book â€Å"Psychology Perspectives and Connections† defines conformity as the tendency of people to adjust their behavior to what others are doing or to adhere to the norms of their culture. To go along with conformity, social norms are rules about acceptable behavior imposed by the cultural context in which one lives. †¨A couple of weeks ago when the students