For instance, in Japan, where I currently reside, people tend to strongly discourage individuality, and it is often frowned upon to express your personal opinions or act differently. How does this compare to the situation in the U.S., and if there is peer pressure, what do you think sets it apart from Japan?
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Depends on the peers. Though generally speaking, American culture is significantly more accepting of indvidualism.
Depends where you live, the US is huge and very diverse. Small towns you would feel social pressure if you stand out maybe by older people, but cities… especially ones that have colleges and veer younger: those cities are very open and you can just kind of be.
Individuality within reason is generally tolerated but when you are in an area that is pretty homogenous in some significant way (Political leanings, religiosity, etc) anyone deviating from that norm will probably feel pressure to leave.
Individuality is certainly encouraged but there’s also an idea of classic American fun, especially as a teen and college student, that people will try and drag you into though that can be a good thing.
In college especially I was convinced to go to lots of hangouts and parties on nights I intended to spend quietly, and I could be annoyed in the moment but in hindsight I’m happy that my friends pressured me a bit. Of course that can go too far but it was never destructive for me, maybe occasionally people urged me to drink too much or something but never in a way that negatively impacted my life overall.
Individuality is pretty much a virtue in the US. Now more than ever before.
We like free spirits and the weird.
The US is a set of more or less individualistic cultures. Being polite is important where I’m from but there are hard limits to that. If people don’t like the way I dress, how I act or express my personality that’s a them problem, as long as I’m not causing harm to others. What are they going to do about it anyway, fight me?
It’s hard to say. What happens in public and what happens in private can be two very different spheres
Most peer pressure is in middle through high school.
Japan is an ancient country. The US is a new country.
Japan is small and people live close together, so you’re naturally pressured to fit in and conform with the group.
The US is huge and mostly made up of immigrants, so it’s normal to be around people who don’t look or act like “your” group.
Nonetheless, it’s human nature to create peer pressure. That’s just what people do as soon as there are two or more of them. It’s just that in the US, individuality is normalized.
All these are whopping generalizations of course, but that’s what sticks out to me.
Individuality is accepted and even encouraged in the US, within reason.
Its kind of a complex topic to really outline… if you dress quirky and cute, you’ll get a lot of positive attention, but if its TOO “quirky”, then you might have people skirting around you in sidewalks.
Small towns tend to be much more homogenous than cities, however, and there are always places and areas where individuality is discouraged (such as, job interviews, or anything to do with the court system, high class restaurants, etc), but for the everyday?? Its unlikely to be an issue.
I don’t give a flying fuck what anyone else thinks. So I guess thats my answer
lol I always joked as a teenager that I didn’t feel much peer pressure, because to have peer pressure you need to have peers.
I haven’t had any real issue with peer pressure since high school. And that was 20 years ago.
These days I am very much of the mentality of doing my own thing and not giving a Frick what anyone else thinks
USA is the more individualistic society I’ve lived
There was a very good anime a long time ago about a young lady struggling to grow up in Japan. The nail that stands out gets hammered down. It was very painful to watch.
In many respects that is not the US. You can pretty much do what you want as long as you don’t bother anyone.
On the flip side, I could totally understand a person from Japan expressing an opinion that our cities could be a lot cleaner, safer and that someone should do something about the rats.
Peer pressure definitely exists, but mostly for adolescents.
Overall the US encourages individualism (to an extent).
I grew up going to catholic school. They tried to push me into place. I’ve just never fit.
It depends on where you live.
If you live in NYC, standing out is good. The city is full of characters (google: The Green Lady NYC)
If you’re from a small, conservative town, you might want to hide anything that’ll make you a target.
Not even fucking close to Japan or East/SE Asia. US peer pressure is a joke compared to over there.
Peer pressure exists in the US but we have a huge culture of leaving people alone and tolerating differences. Small towns and areas that are more racial homogeneous (not limited to just White towns) have stronger peer pressure and bullying, but theres often a way out. Such as moving to a different part of country or the internet. Unlike Japan where different parts of the country are basically the same thing with minor differences.
The worst case of bullying I’ve seen and heard thats consistent across the nation and on the extreme end is slut shaming.
The US is much more individualistic, but there is certainly peer pressure. I’ve lived in both Japan and the US. The US is tolerant of “acceptable” differences…I don’t know how else to put it. It’s okay to be different as long as you are different in a way that is socially accepted. Same with personal opinions. You are encouraged to think outside the box, but there are unspoken parameters. In contrast, if you’re in Japan you’d better stay in the box.
I actually moved to the US because I’m too eccentric for Japan. I stuck out like a sore thumb.
Peer pressure from parents to succeed, yes. Peer pressure from friends to fall into line on issues, not at all…we are very individualistic in our social groups. It is not uncommon to have a preppy kid hanging out with a stoner and a punk rocker and a kid from the ghetto all smoking weed together and watching half baked and giggling their ass off…nobody tries to push that hard to change who you are.
It’s pretty easy here to just not give a shit what other people think. Rule of thumb, unless she’s paying my bills or I can get in legal trouble, whatever Nancy across the street thinks of me doesn’t matter.
If you move to a more individualistic county like the U.S. , there is less peer pressure in general. You may have to actively socialize and meet new people for a while to make a new friends that are good for you.
The US has a strong impulse toward, and tradition of, individualism.
However, that doesn’t mean that there’s no peer pressure. There is tremendous peer pressure to be “an individual” the same way everybody else is “an individual”, or the same way the popular people are “individuals.” You have to be pretty self-possessed to really rise above this, especially as a young person.
If I remember correctly the US is rated as the most individualistic nation in the world, with Japan sitting in the bottom half of the rankings.
In my adult life I have experienced little to no peer pressure. As long as you don’t cause other people problems they don’t care.