Social Conformity

Inquiry- 'How and why are there pressures put on the way dancers should look?'

Recently I have been looking out for themes which may emerge throughout my data and one has really caught my eye. It is the presence of social conformity: the tendency to act or think like members of a group. 

I first noticed this during my literature research, 'it's a trend to be thin', that dancers are following the stereotype that society has created. I have read a few articles which have stated similar things with regards to this, that we as a society have created this stereotype for dancers and athletes.

An example of social conformity would be, if I was at school with a group of 5 friends and 3 of them did not get dessert at lunch and one did I would probably not get one too. This is something that we all do unintentionally in order to fit in with the crowd to avoid judgement for being different. Thinking back to my performing arts training I can think of numerous occasions where I unintentionally followed the crowd.

During some of my interviews this theme kept cropping up, that we are influenced by what others look like, if one student came back after the holidays looking more toned/thin others would feel the need to do the same. This has a domino effect. Dancers competing with each other with regards to how little they can eat, this unspoken competitiveness relates to social conformity.

This research in to social conformity has really helped to develop my inquiry, sometimes its nice to branch out to different topics which are still somewhat related to the inquiry.

I hope this helps anyone searching for their themes within their data analysis, don't be afraid to expand your inquiry and your knowledge if something catches your eye, as long as you always bring it back to your inquiry.

Millie x