Thursday, February 17, 2011
Peer Pressure
So after the movie we spoke a bit about peer pressure and how much of an influence it is in our daily lives. I want to know if you believe it is a type of authority in itself and if so how much influence does it carry? If you were to rank all the types of authority we have covered so far (parental, religious, governmental, societal, etc.) which would be most influential all the way down to least influential and why? Are there examples to show the power of each kind of authority?
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15 comments:
I think peer pressure can carry a lot of power, especially for teens who have low self esteem. Many kids don't have problems with this, but I think peer pressure has a lot to do with bullying and especially in middle school as well. In middle school there is always that kid who has 'cooties' and the other kids pick on them, and the main mass of kids will follow the popular ones who pick on the 'cootied' ones so that they don't seen uncool.
To be the pressure probably comes from parental, religious, societal, then governmental, but I also think these things don't always interlace. The governmental, to me, is in a different spectrum than say religious so I can't really compare them because they don't touch the same areas in my life.
Parental authority obviously comes into play when you are growing up and even when you are grown up, parents still have some say in your life because they are old and more experienced in the ways of life and we look up to them. Religious only affects peoples lives if they have a religion and even then it depends on the level of faith each person has. Governmental comes into play when trying to live my the rules of society and in turn society expects certain courtesies and other respects paid to it, as well as following trends. If you don't have a cell phone or wear clothes set out there by society then you're labeled and pressure is put upon you (Allison in The Breakfast Club).
I don't think peer pressure is a type of authority at all. Peer pressure definitely exists but it does not fall under the category of authority. Peer pressure is trying to get someone to do something or in some cases not to do something. Authority, is more straightforward and much more powerful than attempting to persuade someone. I believe peer pressure can influence one's choice, but it is not a form of actual authority.
I don't think it is valid to rank the most influential to the least because parental, religious, governmental and societal all overlap one another. For instance, you are under your parents authority but they are also under religious and governmental societal as well.
I agree with Bridget - peer pressure shouldn't be considered a kind of authority because most people don't treat it with the same kind of deference they would to actual authority figures like cops or parents or teachers. However, that doesn't mean that it doesn't carry some influence in society. The amount of influence that peer pressure is completely dependent on the person and factors such as how much they want to be accepted by a certain crowd.
Personally I think that religious and governmental authority are relatable simply because they both deal with not-so-immediate consequences and they are the most powerful by definition. Parental and societal authority has the ability to give you negative repurcussions for your actions more immediately and so for most people they would be the most influencial in everyday life.
I believe that peer pressure is one of the hardest things to deal with as a teen or young adult. Usually the only people in our lives are peers and parents. Parents are usually very accepting people, but it takes a lot of molding to become accepted by your peers. It can be very influential to someone's life and since it's happening mostly during a stage of social development, it can change they we see, act, and think.
That being said, I don't think that peer pressure is an authority. Authority usually means one person over another. Peers mean that you are on the same level as them. Also, I think its difficult to rank different types of authority by how influential they are. Each person individually is so different that they see each level of authority in a different perspective. Kids see their parents as the highest authorities. Religious people would say that Religion is the highest authority. One might see the government as the most influential while others may think of their boss as such. It's subjective to perspective.
I think that peer pressure is prevalent in every person's life to a certain degree, whether it be current or in their past. Peer pressure is generally viewed in a negative light, thought to show people's lack of individuality and self esteem. However, while this is one form of it, it can also be viewed in a positive light. Yes, teenagers are pressured into sex, drugs and alcohol. But they can also be "lead" towards a stronger faith, a healthier lifestyle, to become more involved, etc. Overall, peer pressure is a driving force through people's teenage and young adult lives that shape them as people.
So from most to least influenctial, I would say it goes governmental,societal, parental and then religious. This is based off of how much each play a part in my life. Governmental authority affects my life everyday by telling me how fast I can drive or which side of the street I can drive on, etc. Societal authority affects the decision I make, how I make them and if they are acceptable to society. Then, parental authority because even though my parents are not in control of my life, they are the authority that I have had the most conflict with. Religious authority is last for me just because I am not very religious and do not feel that authority readily.
I want to point out that authority is the ability to have others do what you want which is why I personally would group peer pressure with authority. Also, authority is not always linked with a positive connotation. Police officers and government officials are not the only individuals who have authority. Many gang leaders, mobsters, and dictators have authority. Authority figures can be anywhere on the scale of good and evil it is purely a question of influence. So if you believe that peer pressure has influence in a person's life, then it must be seen as some kind of authority.
I must disagree with Meagan on the topic of whether or not religious authority only affects those who follow a religion because there is certainly an influence in your life from religion in many cases where an individual does not follow a religion, or even a particular religion. The Holocaust, the conflict in the Gaza strip, and even the disagreements in Italy about the Roman Catholic Church are all examples of how religious authority affects the lives of others outside the faith in question.
I also disagree with Jimmy's comment that parents are generally accepting. I think that many times parents put perhaps even more pressure on children than their peers and often this leads to low self esteem, which as Meagan pointed out, causes children to be more apt to fold under peer pressure. The Breakfast Club especially portrayed the way that parents' expectations can cause their children to feel insecure and out of place. There are all sorts of psychological conflicts involving unrealistic expectations, overbearing expectations, lack of expectations, and even expectations that the parents once had for themselves that are now reflected onto their children. These are all examples of how peer pressure and parental authority all tie in together as influences in our lives, especially during uncertain teenage years.
Now from most to least: Governmental because it has the worst consequences when broken, parental because they are a permanent part of my life, societal because it is natural to want to be accepted by those who surround you, and then religious because I normally do not let others influence my religious beliefs and so it is more of a personal opinion than an authority in my life.
I think that peer pressure is a type of authority. Authority isn't just one person commanding others (although this is the popular view of the idea), but anything that has the power to influence the thoughts and behaviors of others, and peer pressure definitely fits into the idea of authority. Depending on the person, peer pressure can have a huge effect on someone's life. Furthermore, no one is completely free from the effects of peer pressure.
As for ranking the types of authority, I don't think a blanket statement can't be made to say which is more important than another. They all impact us in some way, but their importance may differ from person to person or society to society. When you are little, your parents are the main authority in your life, but when you start to go to school and enter the world, societal and governmental authority becomes more important. The bottom line is that they are all important in our lives, but the level of that importance differs for different people.
I think peer pressure is a type of authority. Whether it is negative or positive pressure depends on the individual and the situation, but it effects all of us every day. It can be minor like where your group of friends wants to eat or something major like getting pushed into smoking pot.
Ok, I think the categories that we have covered thus far are societal, peer, parental, religious authorities. The ranking of these is going to be VERY personalized.
For me, parental authority is/was the most influential because one has the most impressionability when young.
Second would be peer authority for the same reason as parental authority.
Third would be societal. This authority will rise in the rankings as I get older I think. I was a fairly "sheltered" child, so I was not really affected by many social pressures.
Lastly would be the religious authority, because I am not the least bit religious. For others though, this authority mighty be one of their top categories.
I definitely think that peer pressure is a type of authority. Especially in midschool and high school, teenagers are deciding who they are or who they want to be, and I don't think anyone ever decides who they are without the influence of their peers. But I also think that with peer pressure we actually choose which authority we are under, since we choose who our friends are. If we don't like what our friends are doing, we can choose to either go against our values and stay with them, or we can find a different set of friends with more similar values. I think a lot of times people choose to stay in the same group since there is a sort of security in already belonging to that group.
As far as ranking the influence of authority, I think it is different among individuals. I would rank religious authority the highest for me since I am a Christian and I live my life according to my faith. That said, I agree with Amanda that religious authority affects even those who are not religious. Everyone at some point makes a decision about what he or she is going to believe, and that decision effects how he or she is going to live his or her life. I'm not saying that religious authority is the top ranking authority for everyone, but I do think that it effects some people a lot more than they realize. I would rank societal authority above governmental authority since, at least in America, society influences the government. But I do think that under a different form of government, the two might be switched. I don't know if I'd rank parental above or below societal and governmental, since parents technically only have authority over us until we are 18, but even after that they can have a big influence on our decisions.
I don't believe peer pressure is an authority, but it is definetly a tool that your friends can use in order to get you to do something. In a sense, it is your friends who have the authority, yet you have a choice of whether or not to go along with what they say. My favorite part of the movie is when Bender tells Claire that she is not a bad person for telling the truth but for recognizing how messed up it is to treat a person the way she will treat Brian yet she doesn't have the guts to stand up to them. It perfectly illustrates the concept of peer pressure and how much of a tool it is when used by a group of people. I also don't think it is proper to organize the types of authority from one more influential than another, because I believe that to some extent they interlink.
Peer pressure is definitely a kind of authority which we deal with on a daily basis. However, I feel like we bring it on ourselves. Peer pressure is really most prevalent in the first 20 years of our lives when we really are not sure who we are. Therefore, we join stereotypic groups in an attempt to define ourselves. Once in a group it becomes exceedingly difficult to change who you are as you get older. We work hard to fit into the stereotype of our group due to peer pressure. However, because we have put ourselves into a particular group, it is no more our peers than ourselves forcing us to remain in vogue with the rest of the group. Societal pressure definitely exists, but it is equal to the amount of pressure which we put on ourselves to fit in.
I would say then that all the various types of authority are equally influential but in different ways. They all combine to form the pressure we put on ourselves. Also, pressure is a never-ending entity. There is always a higher authority creating more and more pressure the further you get from the central authority.
With regards to your examples, I think parental, religious, governmental, and societal pressures all have different power over different people. In my opinion, governmental authority should hold ultimate power, although with recent events, it is easy to see how much control we actually have over that authority. Religious authority could either be ranked at the top or the bottom. I place it at the bottom because I'm not a "believer," but others truly value the guidance of religion and define everyday of their lives by it. Parental and societal authority have the most influence on our day-to-day lives because we are directly effected by them. It is near impossible to completely ignore the influences of societal because relationships with other people are so important to us all.
I think that if peer pressure were not an authority over our lives it would not exist. Although it sounds a lot like circular logic it makes absolute sense when you really think about it. Peer pressure is so much an authority in our lives that it can kill. It can drive someone to commit a murder when told to do so. A great example is Jonestown, the incident where over 300 people committed suicide when told to do so and harassed into it. Parents gave their children Kool Aid spiked with cyanide. If this is not an authority I don't know what is. Jonestown is a very grave example but as some of you have already pointed out, the problem can come directly from home or school through bullying and lack of attention. To back this up i want to point out a very recent event which involved nine year old elementary children who were drinking at school. Think about it, these kids are NINE YEARS OLD. Some say it was their way to go against the flow, to experience and most importantly to rebel against their parents. Whatever the reason you think they did it, one thing is completely obvious: the power that actions like these give peer pressure an complete control and authority over our lives.
Im not necessarily sure that peer pressure is an authority exactly, but it is definitely similar in the sense that it is a social norm and a guideline. If we were to question peer pressure, there would be adverse consequences just as there are in questioning authority. Most influential peer pressure comes from that exact group, peers. We all wish to please our friends and be "cool". Social norms definitely dictate how we live. It definitely carries a lot of influence and should be questioned when it pushes for a negative consequence.
Peer pressure carries a lot of influence no matter who you are. Someone can say they aren't influenced by it but I think to a certain degree everyone is influenced by peer pressure. Due to the fact that it influences aspects of our lives from how we act to who we hang out with, i think peer pressure can be classified as a very abstract form of authority. Now, is it on the same level of authority with other forms we have discussed? Probably not but it still carries a level of influence with it, which obviously depends on each individual person.
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