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Deja Williams
Professor Jessica Morton
UWRT 1103-066
18 April 2016
Music from a Cultural Standpoint
Identity is shaped and deciphered by a number of factors in modern society, especially music.
However, using music as a cultural identifier proves to be harmful to a person whether
they decide to stray from the typical rhythm or follow the beat of the usual drum.
Ones cultural identity is deeply engrained in what foods they eat, what religion they
follow, and even the clothes they wear. Often music is also associated with a persons cultural
identity. However, this has a plethora of drawbacks. When a person abandons the status quo of
what their musical taste is expected to be, let us use an African American person who finds more
comfort in listening to Korean pop than rap as an example, they are judged for their lack of
conformity. The reason for this judgement varies from person from person. An explanation for
rejecting a persons lack of conformity is the hasty assumption that liking something outside of a
traditional cultural comfort zone means that one has a hatred for their identity. A prime example
of this comes from Sterling Wongs article K-pop Fans Come Out of the Closet. In this article,
Wong interviews a young African American K-pop fan named Michael Grant who recollects that
when other people find out his genre of choice, he is often judged unfairly. "Some people,
especially black people, say that I have hatred for my own race because of the music that I like."
(Wong, Black K-pop Fans Come Out of the Closet), remarked Grant. Grants experience gives
a very common reason why embracing another genre creates the potential of less than favorable
assumptions from society. When one rejects a norm, people have the tendency to believe you are

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rejecting your identity as a whole, even going as far as believing that one is ashamed of their
identity and trying to be someone who they are not.
Conforming is an important aspect of most, if not all cultures. When one performs acts that are
considered unusual or do not align with the perception of what their identity, they are
possibly rejecting the conformity that they have been encouraged to embrace since early
age without even knowing it. We begin conforming when we are children and are taught
the norms of our culture, for lack of a kinder phrase, by force. Our culture becomes a part
of us that we are unable to change because we have already conformed to it. We eat our
cultures foods, follow the religions, learn the dances, and wear the clothes that the
cultural community believes matches our identities. The very idea of a culture implies
that people think, feel, and act similarlyotherwise no common content would exist,
(Fish, How Cultures Make People Conform) is a big reason why nonconformity is
sometimes viewed as taboo among cultures. This idea that the people of a culture must
have similar behaviors and ideals in order for that culture to maintain order and give one
a sense of identity explains why stepping out of musical norms can draw negativity from
those around a person who decides they want to expand their lyrical horizons. A more
radical perception of this type of nonconformity is that a person with various tastes is
abandoning the identity that those around them have created over their whole lifespan.
Even though there is only one change being made, the nonconformist faces a potential
lack of identity if conditions are severe enough that abandoning one simple social norm is
mistakenly interpreted as the lack of pride in ones culture. Fish eloquently sums up the
blessings and curses of having an identity, claiming it is a mixed bag. It offers
individuals closeness, mutual support, a sense of identity, and many other advantages

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(Fish, How Cultures Make People Conform) however, with all these advantages one
must suppress or even fully eliminate factors that do not fit in with their coveted identity
or risk losing the advantages of being a part of a culture in one way or another.
Though external forces cause a person to conform, they also have the power to cause a person to
reject conformity. According to an article by Christina Wombat, there are two types of
ways that one can choose to not conform to society: nonconformity and anticonformity.
Nonconformists are people who do not follow what society is doing in a way that comes
naturally and happens as a result of having interests that suit themselves unintentionally.
Anticonformity is described by Wombat as the phenomenon that occurs when one is so
desperate to be nonconformists that they devote a great deal of their time to doing exactly
the opposite of whatever "the masses" are doing (Wombat, 5 Reasons Why
Anticonformity Is Worse Than Conformity). When a person becomes an anticonformist,
they choose to listen to music outside of cultural norms to make a point, not because they
like it. This type of nonconformity should be frowned upon because it can be just as
detrimental to the nonconformists as conformity. One of the most important pieces of
information that can be taken from the article that Wombat makes is that whether you're
trying mainly to be like other people or trying mainly to not be like other people, either
way you'll be too busy to learn how to try to be yourself (Wombat, 5 Reasons Why
Anticonformity Is Worse Than Conformity).A reason that nonconformity is criticized
other than the irrational fear of a lack of cultural assimilation or self-hatred is the
situation that arises when ones only motivation to like something, in this case an unusual
genre of music that is outside of the box revolves around the fear of being like
everyone else. If that music becomes popular and accepted in that persons circle and

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they had no other sense of identity to embrace, then they no longer have something to an
identity and look for the next thing to prove that they are different. When being
different is a persons whole identity, then they spend their whole lives being
influenced by society trying to build it. When you allow conformity to influence your
decisions, you do not allow yourself to create a long lasting identity, which can prove to
be a downside of not conforming to norms, musically or otherwise.
It is evident that a lack of individual expression has the potential to be frowned upon in society, but it is
being shamed for conformity is also a very real threat to a person who shows interest in music
that matches what is predicted of their background. One of the biggest reasons that conformity is
ridiculed almost as much as nonconformity is that the pressure to conform has long lasting
psychological effects on a person. This has been proven in behavioral studies performed on
adolescents, a stage in life where the pressure to conform is a day to day battle. In these studies,
teens 12-17 were made to listen to a song clip off of Myspace and answer questions about how
much they liked it and if they had heard it before. The study found that the teens were more
likely to answer that they liked the song or had heard it previously if the subjects were shown a
popularity rating beforehand. However, when the popularity rating was not shown, the answers
of teens changed. Also, during the study the brain behavior of teens was monitored and depicted
that when the teens changed their minds, areas of the brain associated with anxiety and pain
increased in activity, showing just how harmful conformity is to the adolescent mind. This is a
valid reason for conformity to be questioned. One should not have painful areas of the brain
triggered just from the simple task of listening to music and stating their opinion on it. The fear
of social rejection is so strong in adolescents because their relationships are essential for passing
on the lessons that will enable them to join adult society, (Baird, In Teen Music Choices,

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Anxiety Rules) emphasizes the impact that conformity begins to have on a humans life at an
early age. This fear continues into adulthood and creates adults who criticize future generations
of youth for their choices that do not reflect what is predicted of them. From birth, conformity is
engrained into our minds and depended on in order to relate to other people and move through
each stage of our lives in a productive manner. A plausible explanation for the questioning of
conformity is the fact that without it, a persons identity and wellbeing is in jeopardy, but
inevitably this is also true on when one makes the choice to conform and cause themselves
anxiety over the opinions of society.
Through experiments, it has proven that conforming to group norms is detrimental to an
individuals creativity and ability to think for themselves. An article by Psyblog on why
following group logic retells an experiment done in 1957 involving college students and
dorm placement. New students were randomly assigned to either conservative dorms or
liberal dorms. As the months passed, the students in the liberal dorms became less
conservative, conforming to those around them. The new students inevitably lost their
sense of agency from being in a group. This applies to musical choices as well because
one is more likely to abandon their former genres in favor of what those around them are
listening to either intentionally or unintentionally. In another experiment demonstrating
how easy it is to slip into a similar mindset of the majority. In a study done a decade ago
by Adarves-Yorno, people are put into two groups and asked to create posters. During the
creation of the posters, each group was asked to follow a certain norm: either use more
words or more pictures. When the groups judged each others posters, they applied their
given norm to the other groups posters and criticized them for either not having enough
words or enough images, believing that these norms were the definition of creativity. The

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article summarizes the experiment as the unwritten rules of the group determining what
its members considered creative. In effect groups had redefined creativity as conformity
(Psyblog, Why Group Norms Kill Creativity). By one conforming to the musical tastes
of their peers in order to avoid being criticized and to be treated in a predictable way, the
freedom to go on an exploration into musical genres is hindered when they are led to
believe that the groups musical choice is creative enough and that there is no need to
venture farther, or fear of the stability of relations if they do not follow group norms.
Whether one chooses to conform or to not conform when it comes to musical habits, there is bound to be
objections with reasons that vary from person to person. The assumption that one chooses to
abandon the musical norms that are set in their identity has the potential to be mistaken as
turning their back on the culture that they were birthed to and encouraged to embrace all of their
lives until the point where thinking for oneself began. Also, not conforming for the wrong
reasons and letting society sway you away from what is mainstream, not letting one create a
solid identity out of fear of becoming like everyone else creates a disdain for the act of
nonconformity. Just as stepping away from the crowd creates controversy, standing with them
does the same. This is mainly because conforming not because one likes something, but because
they want to be accepted has been scientifically proven to be unhealthy. Also, the act of
conformity suppresses creativity and the potential to open ones mind to a world of genres when
they settle into not their own identity, but the identity of a whole group. Though conforming
gives one a sense of identity, it also takes the opportunity for that identity to grow and flourish.

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Works Cited
Baird, Abigail. "In Teen Music Choices, Anxiety Rules". Scientific American. Nature America.16
Mar 2010.Web.30 Mar 2016.
Fish, Jefferson. "How Cultures Make People Conform". Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers.18
Dec 2012.Web.30 Mar 2016.
Wong,Sterling. Black K-pop Fans Come Out of the Closet. The Daily Beast.
InterActiveCorp.31 Aug 2014.Web.22 March 2016.
Wombat, Christina."5 Reasons Why Anticonformity Is Worse Than Conformity. Cracked.
Demand Media.07 Dec 2010.Web.29 March 2016.
"Why Group Norms Kill Creativity. Psyblog.Psyblog.8 June 2009.Web.22 March 2016.
(Wombat, 5 Reasons Why Anticonformity Is Worse Than Conformity)