Examine the nature, causes and consequences of conformity and nonconformity and their influence on attitudes and behaviour

What this dot point is asking

This option asks you to investigate conformity (following the norms and expectations of a group or society) and nonconformity (departing from them), and how each shapes people's attitudes and behaviour. NESA wants you to analyse why people conform, why some resist, how societies enforce norms through social control, and how nonconformity can drive social and cultural change. The HSC rewards a sustained argument that links these ideas to real groups and movements, using the fundamental concepts of power, authority and society.

The answer

Defining conformity and nonconformity

Conformity is the alignment of attitudes and behaviour with the norms, values and expectations of a group or society. Nonconformity is the deliberate or unintended departure from those expectations. Neither is inherently good or bad: conformity provides order, predictability and belonging, while nonconformity can be the engine of innovation, freedom and reform. A strong response treats both as normal and necessary parts of social life.

Why people conform

People conform for several reasons. Socialisation teaches norms from birth through family, school, religion, peers and media, so much conformity is internalised and unconscious. People also conform to gain acceptance and avoid rejection, and to respond to authority and the pressure of the group. Classic social psychology, such as studies of group pressure and obedience, shows how powerful these forces are. Conformity is reinforced by the desire to belong and the fear of standing out.

Why people do not conform

Nonconformity arises from independent values, conscience, subcultural identity, or the conviction that a norm is unjust. Some nonconformity is private and harmless; some is public and deliberately challenges the social order. Subcultures and countercultures, from punk to environmental activism, form around shared nonconforming identities, offering belonging on their own terms.

Social control and deviance

Societies maintain conformity through social control. Informal control includes approval, gossip, ridicule and exclusion. Formal control includes law, policing, courts and institutional rules. Deviance is behaviour that breaches significant norms; what counts as deviant is socially defined and changes over time. Behaviour once labelled deviant, such as same-sex relationships, has become accepted, while other behaviour has become newly unacceptable, showing that norms themselves shift.

Power, authority and norms

Power decides which norms dominate and who has the authority to enforce them. Dominant groups often define the mainstream against which nonconformity is judged. This means nonconformity is frequently a contest over power: a challenge to who gets to set the rules. Analysing this link between norms and power is central to a high-band response.

Nonconformity and social change

Nonconformity is a major driver of change. Movements that began as nonconforming, then mainstream, include the women's movement, the campaign for Aboriginal rights, the environmental movement and the campaign for marriage equality. Each challenged prevailing norms, faced social control and resistance, and ultimately shifted the mainstream. Today's nonconformity can become tomorrow's accepted norm, which is the dialectic of conformity and change in action.