When we are young it seems we try our best to fit in. We want to do what everyone else is doing. We want to wear the same clothes, have the same shoes and go to the same places. It isn't so much a matter of conformity as it is a matter of "fitting in" with your contemporaries.
As we age those same urges apply but, the instinct driving them may be slightly different. Often, it seems that jealousy drives us to want the same things like the cool car, the clothes, the activities.
At some point, though, we begin to differentiate. We go our different ways to college or, into the workplace and the conformity begins again. Most people begin to take on at least some characteristics of the groups they associate with. I think the college setting is where the real grouping begins.
I suppose there is a comfort in being part of the group. It goes back to the survival instincts programmed into our genetic template that is the basis for much of our behavior. For prey animals, especially, it isn't a good thing to stand out from the crowd. It is the isolated who are picked off to become food for the predator.
Predators learn to like conformity, though. Think about man, the ultimate predator. We raise herds of animals that are as much alike as possible for the purpose of providing a known quality of readily available food.
Interestingly enough, although man is designed to be a predator, he is such a wily critter that he sometimes preys on his own kind. I think the small percentage that have the highest level of predator instinct like to see the conformity of the majority and they cultivate that attitude among others. Those who have brought that view to the highest level of perfection seem to frequently seek a career in politics where they have powerful tools at hand by which to manipulate the conformists to serve their personal needs and desires.
I will quit there.
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