Discussion 1: Conformity

Fashion is a fascinating phenomenon, largely because people seem to conform to its dictates. Be it clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, home décor, lifestyle, and even body styles, people tend to go along with the latest trends. Media fashion images are inescapable; at supermarket checkouts, fashion magazine covers feature perfectly dressed, coifed, accessorized women and tanned, broad-shouldered, men with six-pack abs and bulging biceps. Most people do not look like this—but they try to—as evidenced by the billions spent yearly on clothes, cosmetics, diet plans, and gym memberships.

For this Discussion, you will examine social conformity as it applies to fashion trends.

To Prepare

• Review the Learning Resources related to conformity and think about how social psychology theory and research explains why women and men conform to the pressures of fashion, diet, body styles, and lifestyles.

By Day 3

Post Informed by social psychology theory and research, please explain why, health reasons aside, women and men conform to the pressure of fashion dictates. You