Deviant art style?

Wherever you go, unless you go to Japan or Asian country, Anime will be looked down upon. whether it's just Anime, or Anime drawing style(Manga) or just anything related to anime.

But what I'm going to talk about in this post, is the deviance of anime style in the eye of westerners and western artists(mostly, and I'm not saying that all of them look down on anime art, but many do so).

I started to notice this problem when I started to attend university. I do not consider it a big problem, but I don't really feel comfortable when someone look down on anything I do ( since I draw in anime/manga style.) months ago, we had to draw a still life for our drawing class, Alhamdulle-Allah, my drawing was turning out quite well. My teacher noticed that I was doing pretty well so he approached me and asked whether I drew in regular basis or something, and I told him, "I try to draw everyday, I like to draw in anime style." just after I told him that, I felt like his face changed (not in a positive way) so, I just stopped talking after saying that sentence.

Not only that, but I get that negative vibe from some students as well. So I try not to talk about drawing with others unless I thought a person might not give me that vibe.

But since I have online friends from all over the world, I know that this problem is not only here, but it's rather spread. I have found blog posts about people with the same problem. (1-2)

People usually think that manga and anime style is just some people who just copy the Japanese animation and think of it as art, they think that each anime is the same and the style is just a copy of another. (But what if it was a copy? people actually learn many things from copying other works, it can also be called "inspiration", you can always copy but you can never claim that the piece you did is original. Artists back in Florence has been copying Roman architecture and monuments. why? because nothing produced is original, everything is a copy of a copy, of another copy.)

But what did they know? how can they say that all anime style is the same? [see picture below]

Why do some realism/drawing artists/professors think anime art is the 'lazy' style? why is it deviant to them? I seriously cannot comprehend that. I draw anime style, and I know what a person has to do to become better at drawing. First they should learn the anatomy (of almost everything, and how things work and function) and every professional anime artist practice anatomy, very much. Just like any kind of artist. Anime art requires hard work as much as any other form of art. It's certainly not lazy.

The Examples(pictures) above is mostly taken from anime series, but how about I show you anime art with a message and meaning to it?

Yuumei, is an anime artist who tries to convey messages and spread awareness through her art. Such as global warming, divorce, and many other subjects.

To conclude this post, I want to ask once again, why is anime art style considered deviant to many other artists? is it because the stereotype of anime style is the shiny-big-eyed-huge-forehead-cute-girls characters? or is it because it doesn't carry a meaning(which I should consider invalid, seeing Yuumei's art) or is it because people think it doesn't require hard work? does it do any harm to the society(I think not, just in some cases which is individual's fault, not the style) or is it because it's stylized and not realistic? (if that's the case, then why is Picasso considered one of the most well-known artist though his art was not very realistic?) But in the end, everyone has their own definition of 'Art' but they do not have to look down on certain styles with no good reason. 

The Deviant in Space

I happen to be a Freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar, and had to take a Foundation class called Space Research. For our final project for that class, we were asked to design prostheses for our own bodies to enhance a certain function, or to make our body perform an action that it normally would not. An Attachment with two mirrors to see the back of your head, for example.

Now prosthetics normally are primarily meant for those people in the society who are given the social status of disabled.  Yet, we were made to think of our own fully capable bodies as imperfect. I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that, but, regardless, it was deviant thinking for the sake of good design.

I took a good look at myself and came up with this idea: finger extensions with wheels on the ends. Here's a picture!

Seemingly, a ridiculous thing, but it served my purpose well. Why? Because, whenever I am around someone I am close with, my hands tend to want to play or touch them or tug at their clothes – a terrible habit that usually ends with me the other person screaming and giving me horrified looks (unless they’re used to it). Sociology would very formally refer to this as informal negative sanctions. 

The prosthesis I would design would enable me to…well…not touch anyone by being too busy trying to keep control of the contraption on my left hand. Win-win situation for everyone, yes?

I took my half-constructed prosthesis to a mall once just to see people’s reactions, but surprisingly, I only received a few looks now and again in spite of the deviant nature of the object. No sanctions from security, nor anyone coming up to me to ask what that is, or trying to take pictures. It is possible that the shoppers were already used to seeing deviants inside of malls. We’ve experienced that a few times in and around Doha.

...Or it could have been that I was just ignoring everybody too well.

However, at VCUQ, it was quite different. Many times, when I would walk by wearing them, people would stop me to ask me about the project. I’m thinking the difference between the reactions of the two groups was two things--

First off, they were different groups with different interests. One was larger, and mainly focused on their shopping, while the other was comparatively smaller and an active participant in ‘deviant design’ and in engaging with whoever was involved.

Second, it was the space/environment they were in. The mall was a large, open space surrounded by many attractive, luxury items. Also, it was what people had come to look at, primarily. My project didn’t fit the bill, even if it did make a few heads turn. It just wasn’t enough.

The university, on the other hand, is full of projects like mine on display, and the social group in there typically strives to make their work as deviant as they can manage. They were able to recognize my project and offered me more curiosity because the prosthesis was more uhh ‘involved’ with the space. In other words, it made perfect sense for it to be there.

It was definitely very interesting to see what placing one object in two different spaces would do to people. Now I only wish I could try and interchange those two groups by putting them in each other’s environment. Would it give me the same results?


I'm sure most of the regular readers have seen the video of the flash mob at the City Centre Mall that appeared out of the crowd and started dancing to Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger. So I'll leave you with a different flash mob video clip from July last year at Villaggio Mall:

Loving how they melt from the crowd and gradually grow in number~ Till next time!

Impressionism and Deviance

Impressionism is the name of the first contemporary art movement, Led by The French artist Claude Monet (1840-1926). Since he was starting something new, breaking the folkway and norms of painting, traditional artists and the art community at that time considered him a deviant. 

This is an Image of the artist compared to a portrait of a traditional artist or (academic): 

And this is the second Portrait of the French Master Jacques louis David, the artist I picked in my previous Blog.

We can see the loose and clear brush strokes in Monet’s work, unlike David whose brush strokes are very controlled and hidden. Monet did not even bother covering the entire canvas with colors; on the other hand David does not have any empty spot on his canvas without a color. And there are so many other differences between the two portraits that could be easily noticed just by looking at them.  

Ironically, one of Monet’s teachers was David’s student.

Monet and his friends and followers tended to paint outdoor, which is something unusual for traditional artists. Monet focused on painting landscapes directly through observation; he did not like the traditional subject matters because to him it’s just a blind copying of the old masters.

Regardless the Impressionists’ creativity and innovation they got negatively sanctioned, especially by the French Academy of Fine Arts, the formal Organization of art at that time in Paris. The academy disallowed Monet and his fellows from exhibiting their works in the Salon, which is an art exhibition organized by the Academy.  Therefore, he and his fellows organized their own art exhibition somewhere else. In the beginning, their work received a lot of criticism and they did not have a lot of visitors. This could be considered as an informal sanction, since it is a disapproval without any kind of written rules.

However, it was just a matter of time. Impressionism was the spark that lit the fire, because other new movements followed it quickly; breaking from the traditions and looking for the new to explore.

In a sociological point of view, Monet was a deviant who created a sub culture of deviants who shared the same principles as him. He challenged the norms and the academy, the formal organization of art. As a result, he and his fellows got negatively sanctioned and perhaps Falsely accused. But Impressionism got accepted later and got followed by other new and innovative movements. And Monet became famous and rich until his death.

Here are some paintings by Monet just to get an idea about his method of painting. 

The following link is for a video about Monet Impressionism, it is quit long but if you like painting you are gonna like it.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0gXW0LMGCs  

And for more Information about the artist here is the following link: 

http://www.claudemonetgallery.org/

 

Marhaba!

Al-Salam Aleekum. This is how we begin to greet people in our culture, translating to “peace be upon you.” The way people greet each other differs from one culture to another. Even within the same culture, there are different ways to greet people. These ways differ in regards to age, gender, and relationship to one another.



When focusing specifically to the Qatari culture, each house or family member has his or her own way of saying hello. Within my nuclear family, the way I greet my family members is very informal, and is different every time. This differs when greeting others. For example, personally, I usually answer phone calls saying “Al-Salam Aleekum” instead of hello. However, in face-to-face communication, the way I greet a person that is my age is different than an elderly person. Out of respect, we kiss the head of those elderly people of the same gender, even if they are not related to us. However, if they were my female and are my age, I would either shake hands or do the cheek greeting, or even hug them.



Let’s talk about the male/female differences in greetings. It is socially unacceptable and is considered deviant to do the cheek greeting with the opposite gender. If it was any of my brothers, my uncles, or father, then it is socially and religiously acceptable. For other males, I would usually just greet them by eyes or by a handshake, even though handshakes are religiously unacceptable. However, since a lot of people do it now, it is not seen as an act that deviates away from the norms to some people.



Also, it is important to note that we usually greet people differently depending on the occasion or the place we are at, on the people we are with, and on their social status. In weddings for example, it is more formal. Therefore, we usually stick to either the handshake or the cheek. In a birthday party, we usually hug each other, as the place is informal.



Another way of greeting people that is very common in Qatar among the guys is the nose greeting. Men tend to greet each other by the nose. It sounds funny, but it happens a lot here in our culture, and is seen a normal behavior.

ACT OF VIOLENCE CAN BE DEVIANT AMONG CHILDREN.

Deviance in sociology is defined as a behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. We are all deviants from time to time. Each of us violates common social norms in certain situations. Deviance involves the violation of group norms that may or may not be formalized into law. One of the most important problems is the violence happening in schools and universities that causes deviant behavior.



Violence is very common among our youth in this generation and it’s spread widely in our society. Violence can lead to several problems in our society.
Now the question arises why does such things happen and what’s the reason behind it?



The constant storm of television programs and violent media channels causes deviant behavior in children. When children are immature or in their infant age, they are very receptive and responsive by the things going on around them. They learn things very quickly and often kids are influenced by what they see. This process of learning in their infancy is called internalization or symbolic interaction by which they accept and adopt the norms, understand their cultural values and beliefs, which has been taught to them in their early stage of life. So we understand how nurture plays an important role in a children’s life.



From an age of three, children watching cartoons or kids based television channels starts imitating someone on the television. There are certain super heroes and characters in cartoons that act violently even for a so-called good reason. For example when characters like batman, superman, Spiderman is shown in a fighting scene to protect a girl from a bad man. This is how the media is playing with the growing minds of children. If the media is showing such stuff to the younger generation, then who knows after a couple of years we might see certain acts of negative deviance in our schools, colleges, universities, on streets and everywhere. As a sociologist, it is the responsibility of our society to impose a law of social control in order to stop certain acts.



These Children, who grew up watching violence on TV, may end up being violent students by fighting or bullying other students or in worst case they might target their professors too which can drag them into worst situations and they might be expelled out from their educational institution and ruin their lives even more. As a social audience, we name this act of violence as a deviant behavior that can occur in a child due to the symbolic interaction that has to be noticed in their early stages of life.

Gender Polarization in Professional Tennis

Many of us enjoy watching tennis matches. We are entertained by the excitement of the game, the gracefulness and probably the elegance of the players. However, it takes sociologists to pinpoint various sociological aspects in professional tennis, and one of the most prevalent of these is gender polarization.

For instance, if you glance at the outfit of the male and female players, you will find tremendous differences. Men usually dress in loose short-sleeved t-shirts and knee-length shorts. This type of clothing identifies the masculinity of the men, which makes them look socially acceptable. On the other hand, women immensely integrate fashion into their sport. Their typical clothing would be short skirts, shorts with tank tops, or a short dress. However, women players wear these garments in attractive colors, exotic designs and glamorous jewelry on-court, which bring a lot of attention beyond their performance. Obviously, women players commit to such fashion statements because they want to remain feminine regardless of the athleticism their sport demands. Sometimes these outfits are very controversial, which was the case many times with the former world number one American tennis player, Serena Williams, who wore a leather-like catsuit in the 2002 US Open. Also, in the same event in 2004, she showed up in boots and a denim skirt.


Another aspect that shows gender polarization in professional tennis, is the game style. Men not only have more powerful consistent ground strokes, but they also like to attack a lot by moving forward to the net and finishing the point with a sensational volley. Also, the speed of men’s serve can reach to 250 kph. In contrast, if you watch the women’s game, you will see a lot of long rallies thanks to their excellent coverage of the court, but you hardly see them introducing exciting strategies as men do. They simply just hit and return the ball till one of the players makes an error or misses a shot. So men are paid more due to their capability to entertain the crowd more with their outstanding game tactics, but also in the grand slam tournaments men play best of five sets while women just play best of three. The idea of sexism fits perfectly in this scenario, as the male players receive more audience due to their high quality matches and they get paid more because they play more sets in major tournaments. As a response to this sex discrimination, many women players underwent a feminist movement to prove that they are just as good and achieve equality. Examples of these feminist acts would be when a number of top WTA players like Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki justified why they should be paid more. They said that they do a lot of endorsements, and that spike up the financial state of the businesses involved in making professional tennis possible. Besides, women tennis is becoming more aggressive and physical, so people start to sense that the women are playing and behaving more manly on the court. For instance, they run faster, hit harder and grunt louder. One of my all time favorite women’s matches, which exhibited the masculinity women players are increasingly integrating in their game was the semifinal of the 2005 Australian open championship between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. Here is the video of the match:


Moreover, regarding the feminist actions taken by the female players, the WTA created a global campaign with the tagline “Strong is beautiful.” This campaign featured 38 of the professional players and the advertisement that was produced showed the women wearing very revealing tennis clothing to display their athletic bodies while hitting aggressively their shots in slow motion. The ad clearly illustrated that women players are capable to deliver assertive tennis without any compromises to their femininity.


If you also analyzed how male and female players celebrate their victory on court, you can recognize obvious differences. Men usually collapse on their backs with their legs wide open or jump around very vigorously. As an example of how wild Novak Djokovic celebrated his first Wimbledon title this year, he snatched up some blades of grass and shoved them in his mouth. But for women no matter how exciting the moment can feel like, they still take less bustling actions. Crying is quite common among women who win majors, and that explains that women are more emotional than men.


Besides, the commercialization of gender ideals, which is the process of introducing products to the market by using advertising and sales campaigns that draw on socially constructed standards of masculinity and femininity, heavily influences the type of commercials male and female players do. For instance, male players usually promote technical items like cars, rackets and watches. However, women players would advertise items related to beauty like shampoos and deodorants. And even when these women are featured in commercials about cameras and rackets, they still embrace their feminine appearance mixed with the assertive attitude.



All in all, gender polarization nearly exists in every facet of our lives. It is the people’s duty to conform to their gender ideals in order to keep the socialization process functioning well. But sometimes, gender polarization can be detrimental to women’s growth and success in certain fields. That is why women feel it’s unfair to live in a “glass ceiling” society, and that motivates them to lead feminist movements. In many cases, feminist acts were successful and society gradually started to perceive that it’s “okay” to see women working in areas that are masculine in nature and receiving privileges that they never used to be awarded before. However, it would be considered socially deviant if men started to engage in more feminine-like activities. They would probably receive a lot of sanctions and will not feel as comfortable as women feel working in more manly environments. That is just how society works.

A Sociological look at the Brazil vs. Egypt Friendly Match at Al-Rayyan Stadium

After driving at snail speed in the midst of traffic on the road to Al Rayyan Stadium in Doha last Monday, I walked a considerable distance from my car to the stadium’s entrance. On my way to the actual stadium, I came across a few things besides screaming fan groups with painted faces and floating flags, and people trying to sell merchandise (flags, snacks, lights etc.). First, I come across stand-by police cars, and security officials waiting at the outer gate of the stadium parking lot. And what I didn’t expect to see is a line of security officials on horses (more like cavalry), perfectly aligned and still, and ready to be summoned at any moment. The number of spectators in the stadium that night was announced to be over 25,000 people. When there is such a large mass of people, there needs to be some sort of control.





Without some form of social control, there is a possible threat that too many people will deviate from the norms that regulate accepted and suitable behavior. To ensure that no people deviate from these norms and expectations, security officials inside and all around the stadium keep a diligent eye and sanction anyone who even attempts any mild deviant behavior like aggressive talk between two opposing groups (Brazilian fans and Egyptian fans) trying to vandalize property or sneak in without a ticket, or sit somewhere that is unauthorized to you.




Next, I reach the security screening of spectators, similar to an airport manual check-up that doesn’t include walking through a detector system. This is where I noticed strict gender segregation: female security employees checked women and young children in a separate section and men (including young boys if they were accompanied by a male adult) went to another section where they were screened my male officials. People tried to rush past without getting checked, but security guards at both ends of the separate sections pulled them back. Officials at the entrances told women to go to the women’s section, and men to go to the male section, constantly monitoring the flow of people to ensure conformity to the rules. Failure to conform these rules might result in formal sanctions – which are, according to Joan Ferrante, expressions of disapproval or approval supported by official laws, policies, rules that dictate how people should be punished or rewarded for specific behavior.



Finally after ticket processing, I was directed to the gate number that leads to the section my seat is in. More security meets people heading towards the gate entrance, and security staff and personnel open the door to the fenced area where my seat is located, and I am ushered to the seat number printed on my ticket. The view is unlike what I usually see on my television screen at home. No matter how “HD” you get with the broadcast of any game, this is different. This is the “real” experience. You get to absorb the game and the reactions of everyone around you; cheering fans, the excitement, the anticipation, and the thrill of the game.





In the area close to where I was sitting, there were a lot of families with young children, older children, and even infants, carried on parents’ shoulders. Many believe that there is so much more to football than a game of set tactics, skill and rules. Sociology would call part of that added meaning and “effect” the process of socialization. These children are socialized at a very young age, through experiencing watching a game, cheering for their team, and their country, to value the game, and their national team, and participate in this experience that shows belonging to a group, pride of belonging to that group, and the importance of support for that group. They develop a sense of self, a sense of the group they belong to and the ways of that group, and the way of society. Joan Ferrante defines games as “structured organized activities that usually involve more than one person and a number of constraints, such as established roles, rules, time, place and outcome,” (p. 96).




The players on both the Brazilian and Egyptian national teams were probably exposed to the game at a very young age, where they developed a system of expected behavior in the football game stage. This system is called the generalized other, (Ferrante, p. 96) It shapes and defines meanings, behaviors, and perspectives that go beyond those participating in the game. These expected rules, behaviors, and meanings were already pre-established by people before the players even started learning the game.




At a young age, the players learn more than just passing the ball, and scoring goals, they learn to see things from a particular perspective. By performing their roles (striker, defender, goalkeeper, mid-fielder), in a shared activity, with a common goal, and interacting with each other to achieve that goal, the players learn to anticipate other peoples’ moves, their views, and their expectations of how to behave.




The game can result in the creation of ingroups and outgroups. The Egyptian team for example is a group in which its members feel a strong sense of belonging, and in many different cases when playing against a particular team, they share a strong sense of opposition for that team, that goes beyond the sense of competition in the game in itself. Similarly, the same concept can expand to all the Egyptians and Egyptian fans in the audience. To the Egyptians, the Brazilian team can be regarded as the outgroup (the group towards which the ingroup – the Egyptian team, feel opposition). The Egyptians in this case is the ingroup, and Brazilians the outgroup. In another sense, the Brazilians in the stadium could feel a strong sense of separateness towards the Egyptians and hence, the Egyptians in this case is the outgroup, and Brazilians the ingroup.




There are many past incidents where ingroups and outgroups clashed during a game in a stadium, and outside a stadium all around the world. Luckily, at this game, the horses at the front gates didn’t have to charge, and neither did the fans around me. I thoroughly enjoyed the match, and all the surrounding spectators and fans showing support for their team in many different ways; singing songs, cheering (with a combination of drumming on seats, apparently an Egyptian specialty), painted faces, waving flags, funny wigs, and not a favorite of mine – the screeching loud cheering horns that echo in your ear drums till the end of the night.

Do Trend's End Lives ?

Due to these past few years, where the Arab society has met different types of people from various countries around the world, different subcultures have emerged, stating that they will the change the stereotype idea of Arab’s to Westerners.
These Subcultures included everything from Gothic groups to Football addicts who communicate with each other on a daily basis using the most amazing creation of our time, the Internet.
However with every change there is an opposition; and opening up all of a sudden has affected the Arab society on a great level. How? Well using the example of Goths and Emo’s who have been spreading quite quickly throughout the Arab countries these subcultures have created tension and fear to the Arab society.
What is an Emo? Emo stands for Emotional, the correct term is Emotional Punk, these people are part of a group whom want to fit in with a certain group or subculture. They tend to be suicidal, wear black and listen to rock and roll. Apart from the black clothing, Emo kids can be identified through blonde or pink streaks in their hair, dark make up and plenty of piercings.
As they are creating a deviance, meaning they have created an appearance or behavior that is not accepted by the culture, values or norms of our countries in the Arab Society.
By violating certain norms and values of a culture is that these groups have created fear in households of Arab families as I mentioned people known as Emo’s tend to be suicidal and suicide is considered forbidden and unwelcomed in most religions, whether in the Arab or Western side of the world, and due to the new fashion of Emo’s Arab individual’s are carried away with the trend not knowing what it hides.
Not only has the Emo affected the Arab communities however in the following video Westerners have been affected as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUGYe3Ly0jE

Graffiti an Art or Deviant Act?

Graffiti as art is one of those "in the eye of the beholder" type questions.


Graffiti art is an art form. The reasons, including aesthetic criteria, as to why it is an art form far outweigh the criticism of illegality, incoherence, and nonstandard presentation. However graffiti art overcomes these concerns and thereby can be considered as an art form.Graffiti art originated in the late 1960's, and it has been developing ever since. However, it is not readily accepted as being art like those works that are found in a gallery or a museum. Most of the opposition to graffiti art is due to its location and bold, unexpected, and unconventional presentation, but its presentation and often-illegal location does not necessarily disqualify it as art.In sociology Graffiti is still an argumentative topic, wither it is a form of Art or a deviant behavior. Societies throughout history and to the twenty-first century continue to hold mixed feelings toward graffiti. According to Grove’s Dictionary of Art, the term “graffiti” derives from the Greek word “graphein” meaning, “to write.” However the term has also been defined as any inscriptions (drawings or words) scratched or scrawled on public surfaces.The Canadian Oxford English Dictionary defines deviance as “the behaviour or characteristics of a deviant,” a person who “departs from the expected rules of conduct” and strays from normal, social standards.


Graffiti as a Form of Deviance
The hip-hop subculture holds a strong place in reality. In effect, the situation has grown to cause much concern to everyday citizens. Graffiti can be seen as a threat to the quality of life in a community because millions of taxpayers ’dollars are spent on its removal;in fact public funds can be entirely swept up by graffiti eradication.
The act has become an illegal offense because it implies the act of damaging property
without authorized permission. The public sees graffiti as an act of deviance because it decreases the value property, detracts from the beauty of neighbourhoods and hurts tourism. Unattended pieces of graffiti give off the visual impression of an “uncaring and indifferent society.

Graffiti as an Art Form


Since the start of modern graffiti in New York in the late 1960s, there has been much debate over its legitimacy as an art form. Many see graffiti as a gang related and merit-less, while others hail graffiti as a legitimate art form of the utmost importance. In this argument of graffiti as an art form, one must make the clear distinction between tags or scrawling and spray-paint murals.Aspects of the art world have even accepted graffiti as art, having had many gallery showings (Powers, 1996). In 2004, the Cultural Olympiad held a festival of graffiti art,Chromopolis, in Greece. Chromopolis invited sixteen graffiti artists from seven different countries to “paint” on public walls in ten Greek cities. In addition to the art galleries featuring graffiti, auctions have occurred specifically for the purposes of selling the works of graffiti artists.The fact that society views graffiti as subversive has to do, in large part, with its appeal and the identity of the graffiti subculture. Graffiti can be seen as an art form for the lower class to rise up and have a voice; it is about the reclamation of public space and the denouncing of ownership.








Sources:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:3sCNcl4XsqIJ:www.sustain.ubc.ca/pdfs/seeds_05/winter/graffitti/A%2520Sociological%2520Analysis%2520of%2520Graffiti.pdf+graffiti+as+deviant&hl=en&gl=qa&pid=bl srcid=ADGEEShOUcGIoK892qLDginHXg4htueEpFgl_JgJ1_Ip8GojYgZBTh9DeUH26CHCV40rJplz9EnxPYsP9r_lEtnHvpQWCmUMt15CQoCSLzm-_bmn-ZboT02179mJ20LN1bj911yMqeUH&sig=AHIEtbTHwvFAR6t7wzPZYxG-L_8dEdKmpA

http://www.graffiti.org/faq/stowers.html

Conformity

As human beings our lives are centered on a thin line that separates conformity and individuality. Conformity is essential to life. Humans, being very complex species live in a society that functions based on rules and obligations by an audience. If anyone commits a mistake, the society may crumble. Therefore, we are obliged to stick to the rules and respect the laws. This is what binds the people living in the society.

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy theory states the most fundamental and basic human needs in four layers, which is shaped like a pyramid. Physiological, safety, belonging, esteem and self- actualization needs are fulfilled when we are a part of a group and conform to the group norms.

When we conform to a group’s norms, we tend to get a sense of security, belongingness, self esteem and acceptance. Therefore, it is normal human tendency to conform to group pressure as we feel we belong to something bigger. In the modern society, acceptance can be obtained only by going further than natural conformity and rather leaping into popular conformity. At that stage we tend to follow the trends rather than personal taste, whether it be music, movies or even personal morals. Conformity is like psychological shelter. If we do not know what to do and are scared, we can blindly follow the steps of others and eventually find a group to take shelter. Therefore, conformity becomes a remedy for isolation.

Below is a video that is an excellent example of conformity. This experiment was conducted by a social psychologist Solomon Asch that demonstrated the power of conformity in groups. This is also known as the Asch Paradigm.



As seen from the video, the group was told to announce their answers to each question aloud. The confederates always provided their answers to each question before the real subject. The real subject always gave the same answer as the others. They answered a few questions correctly but eventually began providing incorrect responses. It is understood that when an individual is surrounded by other individuals all voicing an incorrect answer, they usually provide incorrect responses on a high proportion of the questions. This is because individuals do not want to be deviant from the group. What we can understand from the third paradigm is that one confederate has virtually no influence and two confederates have only a small influence. When three or more confederates are present, the tendency to conform is relatively stable. The third paradigm introduces unanimity of the confederates. It can be seen that when the participant’s answers are anonymous, they tend to not conform to group pressure as they aren’t exposed to criticism or any kind of discomfort from other participants in the group.

Modern life is confusing, so sometimes our vision is so blurred and our choices are endless that we in a midst of confusion. We often force ourselves in two extreme directions of either conformity or individuality. To chose a path, is our choice.

Trousers evolution!

In the 20th century the boyish figure appeared at the end of the First World War, where the women’s started to emancipate their clothing style. It happened when the women had to replace the men and work the factories, and all the jobs where usually men occupied it. The way they were clothed didn’t help them to move freely and work efficiently so they started to wear comfortable man clothes.



In the sociology perspective the boyish figure was a deviance. In fact at that period the beliefs and the traditional values for each gender had a specific cliché “virility for men, decency for women”. In that mater the difference between the genders was necessary represented by the clothing; so it was forbidden for the women to wear trousers. So this emancipation shocked the society. In the 1920s the biggest fashion designer, and fashion icon Coco Chanel was one of the most important figure that pushed forward this wave of liberating the female silhouette. She was one of the first women to discard the corset, cut her hair short but the most important thing is wearing trouser! She said, “ I gave back to women’s body his freedom, this body was sweating in clothes parade, lace, corsets, underwear, upholstery. "



She created in this period a subculture that had evolved untill nowadays, and it beacame a daily routine to wear trousers, jeans, pants etc…