Social Conformity: Is a type of social influence that results in a change of behavior or belief in order to fit in with a group. There are two types of social conformity:
(1) Normative conformity occurs because of the desire to be liked and accepted.
(2) Informational Conformity occurs because of the desire to be correct.
According to the article Mass Communication, Popular Taste, & Organized Social Action by Paul F Lazarsfeld and Robert K. Merton, “Social Conformity” is related to mass media” by providing little basis for a critical appraisal of society, the commercially sponsored mass media indirectly but effectively restrain the cogent development of a genuinely critical outlook.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPAxeDTkt9w]
After analyzing the video, I came to the conclusion that Paul Pelton’s actions may be categorized as normative conformity because he uploaded the footage to his Facebook page. My only assumption is he did so with hopes of it going viral and/or receiving countless likes. Beyond the title of the video, which seems to express how many viewers (including some of you in class) may feel towards the actions of Paul Pelton, I think the video above supports Lazarsfeild & Merton’s correlation between mass media and social conformity.
We (may) have become what I consider “victims” of normative conformity when It comes to how we respond to such videos. Due to an increase in societal documentation of emergencies I think we have indeed been restrained from developing critical outlooks to a certain degree.
I find we rarely ask or even wonder what social influences may have caused John Doe to committed suicide? Or what psychological conditions was Jane Doe under before she shot up a school? And I believe an effective way of developing critical outlooks is by posing questions before and/or after initial reactions to mass media.
Such as, is there a potential correlation between the 3rd tier on Maslow’s Hierarchy which is love and belonging and the receiving likes/reposts on social media platforms? And If so, how does it impact decision making during an emergency such as the one in the video above?