Stories of Peer Pressure in a Group

The need to belong to a gang is commonplace in school but can linger in university, the workplace or social situations. In some cases peer pressure can be good, as social values are learned and interests shared. But some group systems can nurture parasitical forces, when personal values become a casualty of climbing the ranks.

A Story about Peer Pressure

Fascinated by the effects of peer pressure (having experienced it myself) I decided to explore the disturbing side of gang culture for my writing project. My story follows the fate of Frank who finds his sense of self subjugated by a parasitical clique headed by a callous leader, Kurt. Going against this group does not appear to be an option as can be seen from the following excerpt from my novel, A Hard Lesson.

  Frank felt uneasy whenever he visited Kurt’s in a squashed up housing estate of grey net curtains and lopsided gates. He didn’t like the knife marks and graffiti and Kurt’s mob-rule that prodded Kurt’s uncle ever further into his bedroom. Frank had never known such apathy from another human being. With self-hatred, Frank harbored a covert admiration for Kurt and wishing to be like him. Kurt, lean and self-assured, attracted obsequious friends from the estate, of which Frank suspected he was the most adept creep.

Organizational Hierarchy through Peer Pressure

Frank dislikes himself for wanting to belong to Kurt’s group yet finds he cannot help wanting to do so. He experiences reluctant admiration for Kurt who appears overly-cool and assured. Only when Frank earns the approval of Kurt, can Frank like himself. But as is often the case, liking yourself has little to do with being accepted in a gang. Peer pressure can be beneficial for social development and making friends, but if the group has toxic forces, as can be seen here, self-esteem is often compromised.

Excerpt from A Hard Lesson by Charles J Harwood

Copyright is asserted © 2012

Other themes relating to this novel

Dynamics of gangs and the family

Forbidden love of Venus and Mars

Story of a dyslexic person

Butterfly effect and chaos theory in novels

Chemistry of character contrast in stories

How I created a psychopath for fiction

Other articles

Interesting psychopaths in fiction

The underbelly of office politics 

References:

Wendy Treynor Website: treynor.socialpsychology (2013)

From Oxford Dictionary (2013)

BBC Health: Peer Pressure (2013)

Image credits: English: Teenagers in Ondarreta beach, Donostia. Joxemai (Wikimedia Commons)

Hierarchy Level in Gangs

A charismatic group can seem dangerous, rebellious, special or elite. Members might appear to have a secret code or temperament that determines whether you are ‘in’ or ‘out’. Being resoundingly ‘out’ is ‘uncool.’ Certain subjects can be seduced by the magnetism of the system, paying a high price to belong, even sacrificing personal values. Certain groups may represent a belief or lifestyle, such as the old example of the mods and rockers. Some members may take on a role in a group. But some cliques can be more toxic than others, particularly if the leader is narcissistic, callous or sociopathic.

Social Hierarchy of the Gang System

Films such as Rebel without a Cause, The Breakfast Club, Muriel’s Wedding and This is England keenly explore the issues of peer pressure and the risks of acting out of free will. In any story involving peer pressure, we often find characters that have insecurities, personal issues or malleable personas. The ranking system would appear to correlate with self-esteem, but the reality is often quite different.

Films about Negative Peer Pressure on Teenagers

The film Heathers (1988) starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater makes incisive observations of a social clique in a high school. Ryder plays Veronica, the only member of a clique that is not called Heather. She secretly longs to be rid of her cliquey friends, all of which are feared and envied by the school. But the arrival of outsider, Jason (Slater) would appear to provide their just deserts when he happily joins forces with Veronica to dismantle the Heather-clique. The question poses itself, was Veronica ever acting out of free will during her revolt? Only when she confronts Jason in his plot to bomb the school, does she finally find true autonomy.

In Muriel’s Wedding (1994) we find socially ingenuous and plump Muriel (Toni Collette) the target of ridicule by fashion-gurus she considers to be friends. Muriel seeks social acceptance via meeting Mr. Right and a glamorous wedding. But soon discovers that the dream and the reality are vastly different, and what really matters is who she really is.

The Psychology of Peer Pressure

According to the Oxford Dictionary, peer pressure is enforced influence from one’s peer group, such as teenage gangs. But Wendy Treynor, a social-psychologist from the University of Michigan, gets beneath the skin of peer pressure by describing the shift of self-identity in order to belong to a particular clique. This ‘self-shift’ dispels inner conflict caused by the threat of social rejection – many people’s biggest fear. The result is that the individual takes on a new identity – or perhaps a form of self-delusion. Only when away from the influence of the group does the individual revert back to a previous state.