The pressure from mass media to conform to society has stripped many of us of our individuality. Americans have been consuming different forms of media for a long time. By 1940, most households were listening to the radio for an average of 4 to 5 hours a day. In 1960, households were watching television for an average of 5 hours per day, which increased to 6 hours a day by 1975. In 2016, Americans were consuming almost an average of 11 hours of media across their different devices every day.
Many of us are familiar with the same television shows and movies. For example, consider The Office. I don’t remember when I watched the series for the first time, but I do remember I started watching because everyone was talking about it. Within my friend group, I heard rave reviews about Peaky Blinders and Hannibal. Not wanting to be left out during a conversation, I watched them myself. (I have no regrets; I would also recommend the two latter shows if you haven’t seen them already.) As we watch the television or movies we hear others talking about, we’re subconsciously paying attention to what the actors wear, and some may emulate what they’ve seen on the screen in their own closet. We remember the specific quotes that made us laugh and add them to our daily interactions. Some companies encourage our individuality through slogans, like Coors Brewing Company’s ads telling us to “Be Original,” but how can we be original when we’re adopting the values, ideas, and even fashion inspiration from all the same places?
We can partially thank integration propaganda for this, a subset of sociological propaganda because it aims to lead people into adjusting themselves to societal standards or norms. Jacques Ellul, the man who is credited with this categorization of propaganda, makes mention of the path we’ve unknowingly traveled down as a society to reach this level of conformity. It makes sense, long gone are the times of the appreciation of “a village,” where we looked to these micro-groups such as family and church for support and guidance. In this sense, many of us are alone as we navigate through the world, and trying to figure out who we are at an individual level is difficult. So we turn to mass media and society for help, because receiving social validation and being liked by others is a way to soothe our feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Conforming to our society’s standards isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Oftentimes actions within our daily routine are centered around conforming to these standards and rules, like going to work or stopping at a red light. To some degree, it helps maintain structure and prevents society from turning to complete chaos. Humans are meant to be social, and conformity creates the safety net of a comfort zone by offering a sense of belonging.
A major downside to the pressure of conformity is the feeling of obligation to follow society’s norms. Sure, we go to college and then go to work for the next 40-50 years to make money so we can keep a roof over our heads because that’s what society says we’re supposed to do. But how many of like work? Or the daily routines that we’ve created that ensure we’re keeping up with the standards of society? I feel like the pandemic has caused people to reevaluate their life and begin to question why they are doing what they’re doing if they aren’t happy. To refer back to media and how we conform to what we see every day – consider the pressure we feel to fit the ‘perfect image.’ With every television show, movie, TikTok, or YouTube video we watch, indirect social constructs are pushed on us, creating an image of what is ‘good’ or ‘ideal.’ The hellscape that is my Instagram discover page is a constant reminder of said image. I admit I could very easily delete the app altogether, but I suppose as an effort to fit in, it remains on my home screen so I can stay in the loop with the people I follow.
Luckily for us, there is no tangible rule book for how we have to live our lives. We can choose to walk the path less traveled and be who we want to be. We’re free to embrace our individuality and uniqueness, even if that means facing temporary ridicule from groups we may have conformed to in an effort to fit in.
Persuasion & Propaganda 
Integration propaganda is rather interesting to apply to the current world. I think now more than ever the younger generations have been trying to become more individualistic by removing the traditional ideals their parents shared with them. Members of Generation Z are starting to become more alternative rather than conservative. Alternative styles have been taboo for quite some time but the newer generation is starting to normalize it. This brings me to how integration propaganda applies to our current world. Remember when Gen Z said that skinny jeans and side parts were “out of style”, shortly after that you could not find many young people wearing skinny jeans, and if they were, they were ashamed. So rather than make people more individual, which was their goal, they made every the same again. Like you said, people find comfort in doing what is “normal” or conforming with others. Although they do not see it this way, their TikTok propaganda made this happen.
LikeLike
Integration propaganda has probably always been our worst enemy growing up. This kind of persuasion took away the interest in being ourselves, instead we conformed to what the media told us to. While we were unaware at a young age, we were conforming. Advertisements play on our emotions and perceptions so we ask our parents to buy us the coolest shoes, the newest style of pants, etc. just to fit in. You make a great point though, that it is not always bad to fit into normative culture. There are no laws that we must do things like brush our teeth twice a day. It absolutely saves us in some cases.
LikeLike