Transcript 3.3 Conformity and Alienation

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Someone who does not share the major values
of society and feels like an outsider
Reasons for alienation vary:
 Discrimination that excludes a member of a visible
minority from participating in society
 Dissatisfaction of an unhappy teenager
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Cults, Gangs that reject societies values
Few even set about trying to destroy the
society in which they live through armed
struggle
These people hope to build a purer society on
the ruins of the old one
http://cnettv.cnet.com/1999-columbinemassacre/9742-1_53-50023640.html
Columbine High School
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Unabomber
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http://www.5min.com/Video/TheOklahoma-City-Bombing-119995400
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=
6410595n
Timothy McVey
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These extremely alienated individuals are
called Anarchists.
Ex unemployment
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People tend to adapt the values of the society
that they live in
Politics
Virtually all people believe that their attitudes
are right and proper (Subjective Validity)
We like being with people who share our
subjective validity
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Without subjective validity most of us would
experience uncertainty, a feeling that most
people do not welcome
Informational Influence
human desire to accept information that another,
admired person tells us is valid
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Normative Influence
pressure to conform to the positive expectations
of others
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Investigating the Desire to Conform
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Stanley Milgram
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Results……….what do you think??
Lineup members defended normal line rules
less than 50% of the time
Generally unwilling to do more than just give
dirty looks or mild grumbling
People further back in line more unhappy than
people at the front
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Close to 50% of subway riders gave up their
seats (confused and surprised by request)
Many researchers unable to approach someone
to request their seat because the norms of the
subway ridership proved too stressful
Experiment helps us understand that people
can become very uncertain when we avoid
normal behaviours
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1. What does Milgram’s experiment tell us
about (a) human desire to conform and (b)
conventional behaviour?
Human desire to conform is very strong and
conventional behaviour leans toward
defending the rules only about half the time
2.
Why would the people farther back in the
lineup be more vocal than the people
immediately behind the researcher who butted
into line?
Longer time to wait and they are further away
from the norm violators
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3. What is the purpose of the unwritten rules
of social behaviour? What would society be
like without these conventions?
Help social interactions run smoothly. State of
chaos
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Alienation can be an extremely positive force
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Women in the 1960’s
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Lead to the women’s movement
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Conformity generally has a tendency to
discourage social change
People tend to do the same thing the same way
year after year
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