Copy of Khushi Lakra - FINAL IWA

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APS 8 IWA 1 Does racial conformity restrict the development of cultural identity in adolescents? Lakra, Khushi AP Seminar 8 February 18, 2022 Word Count: 2,010

APS 8 IWA 2 Conformity is the behavior of alternating your attitude to create a sense of “fitting in” with your community in order to increase your opportunities in society (Cherry, 2020). Typically, conformity is induced by another person or a group of people. Additionally, conformity is referred to other behaviors that potentially act as influential factors. In regards to racial discrimination and prejudice, conformity (adaptations in behavior for compliance) plays a critical role. Racial discrimination includes the negative actions/behaviors that are typically targeted towards a group of individuals or people (McLeod, 2008). Prejudice includes the incorrect attitude targeted towards an individual apart of a certain group (McLeod, 2008). Likewise, conformity influences behaviors within individuals to engage in discriminatory acts. Social norms can also influence the behavior of an individual to conform to racist ideals embedded within society. Social norms can heavily influence an adolescent, further expanding their vulnerability to conform to discrimination and prejudice-based values. Moreover, the influence of this racial conformity can severely damage or restrict the development of an adolescent’s cultural identity. Developing your cultural identity is one of the key components of establishing your individuality. It heavily relies on your ethnic persona, cultural values, and racial individuality. However, these very values that may be accepted towards cultures, are also the ones that devalue others through forms of racism. Racism has continued to rear its ugly head throughout history and continues to do so today, impacting all culturally accepting groups, making its core values induce compliance. Adolescents are in the midst of a period of life where peer and parent relationships hold an influence on their development. Typically, they have a greater understanding of taking risks through the influence of their peers rather than on their own (Knoll. et al , 2015). Additionally,

APS 8 IWA 3 the influence of peers and parents can greatly negate a development in the adolescent’s individual evolution. In regards to cultural development, if an adolescent's surroundings were composed of individuals who may hold racist or prejudiced values, those very values would carry on to that adolescent as well. Moreover, the influence of peers was more likely to influence an individual rather than a group of adults. As more peers may be misled by parents by their racist values, these values may be spread out into a naive generation, constantly conforming to each others’ values. Additionally, as racism prevails in modern times, groups composed of people of color (POC) have long endured various forms of discrimination, prejudice, or harassment. These roles of racism are critical in the development of cultural identity, as they can significantly overpower equality within groups. For individuals who identify with their ethnic group, these values of racism can carry out into a form of projection and may mitigate the impact of racism on others (Iwamoto and Liu, 2010). These continue to strive throughout society and create social norms like the overrepresentation of westernized values that can influence individuals to partake in discrimination through internalized racism. Furthermore, they induce an obligation for conformity, damaging the ethnic identity of those who wish to accept their individuality through their culture. Additionally, those who present strong identification, increase the possibility for negative impacts of racism. This is due to how racism plays a role in establishing ethnic identity, especially to those who are more than comfortable with it. They may undergo many forms of racism such as unequal opportunities or unequal compensation, that can warp the sense of cultural identity for the next generations and so forth. As these individuals continue to accept their ethnic identity, possibly increasing their vulnerability to tolerating racism, many factors significantly establish their identity stronger. These values include self- worth, acceptance, and personal expressiveness, which strengthen their cultural individuality

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APS 8 IWA 4 (Iwamoto and Liu, 2010). These skills improve the evolution of individual identity and significantly help to decrease the negative impacts of racism on their psyche. Although these qualities decrease the significant impacts of racism on our society, adolescents are still likely to conform to racial norms due to their neural sensitivity (Do, K, et al, 2020). In retrospect of how racism affects adolescents, multiple studies were conducted to measure the effects of racism on mental health in adolescents. As minority children are inclined to tolerate any form of discrimination during their lifetime, the inescapable effects of it last forever on neural consciousness. In a study conducted by the Department of Pediatrics, Anthropology, and Education, a methodical search of literature consisting of articles that pertain to biomedicine, nursing, and other allied health were compiled together to demonstrate the effects of racism on child health (Pachter and Coll, 2009). The search was composed of more than 4400 articles that date back to the 1950s until the present. Forty articles pertained to the topic at hand, and 65% of those articles pertained to the coalition of racism with behavioral/mental health issues (Pachter and Coll, 2009). Typically, most adolescents who experienced discrimination were shown to have depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, self/worth, and anxiety (Pachter and Coll, 2009). Additionally, a study consisting of the effect of parental racial discrimination on African-American adolescents demonstrated how their personal experiences with discrimination were inferior compared to their parents. As this implies, the effects of racial conformity on adolescents are generally outweighed by parental influence. Furthermore, the association between parental racial influence on children greatly impacts their idea of what culture is. For instance, if a child is heavily influenced by a singular viewpoint, their vision is only restricted to that perspective until matters may alter that perception. As this applies to adolescents and racism, if parental influence heavily guided their perception of racial

APS 8 IWA 5 discrimination, and what rules to follow or not to follow, that would restrict the child’s knowledge of their individual culture and limit their ability to progress forward and develop their identity altogether. The debut novel, The Namesake , effectively portrays the limitations of the development of cultural identity, and how internalized racism plays its role when it comes to these limitations. These struggles are portrayed through the life of the main character, Gogol. He represents the struggles of young children who fail to accept their cultural backgrounds. Due to the ethnic barriers within his hometown, Gogol’s embarrassment of his own culture influences him to conform to societal norms. The influence of internalized racism on him creates a stigmatized pressure surrounding the idea of racial conformity altogether. Furthermore, his socioeconomic status (SES) creates additional pressure on him into conforming to westernized ideals. Additionally, studies were conducted by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) in order to measure the relationship between socioeconomic status and identity. It was found that individuals with lower-income and racial-ethnic minority backgrounds were more likely to experience discrimination and social isolation (Destin, et al , 2017). In regards to cultural identity, people were more likely to experience “cultural mismatch” which includes the shift between one set of cultural ideals into another set of ideals that is influenced by differential cultural norms and values (Destin, et al , 2017). This demonstrates the relationship between how SES plays a role in restricting cultural identity, in relation to internalized racism. Additionally, the approach of this intuitive understanding suggests how an individual’s perspective can be challenged through a new context of SES. To elaborate, their identities through (narrative, social, and future) induce a sense of uncertainty through a new approach of SES (Destin, et al , 2017). The integration of these approaches through cultural and social retrospection focuses solely on

APS 8 IWA 6 SES and how it relates to racism. Moreover, the influence of SES induces conformity within minorities and in turn, creates limitations upon the progression of cultural identity. Although there may be limitations due to SES or prejudice, cultural identities are naturally unchanging. The influence of racial conformity does not entirely restrict it from development as conformity induces a positive attitude towards dominant cultural values (SAMHSA, 2014). Conformity can also create acceptance toward individual race and cultural heritage, and an individual may reject societal values that are predominant to other cultures. It also creates a sense of justice when it comes to abolishing oppression within their personal group (internalized racism). Conformity also helps to develop a better appreciation for others from differential racial and culturally diverse groups/minorities (SAMHSA, 2014). Additionally, it can induce integrative awareness which includes the principles of development in confidence towards individual identity. These identities may also become multicultural, which applies to confidence in cultural heritage and invokes a sense of acceptance in supporting all diverse groups. As conformity creates room for these fair skills to be developed and benefit individual cultural identity, and abolish the victimized nature of racism, cultural identities are continuously developing throughout the life cycle. People are bound to resist, reform, or rebel against their cultural ideals to progress forward (SAMHSA, 2014). Especially since adolescents are in the midst of the developmental stage, they are bound to undergo extraneous changes in their cultural identity, and racial conformity cannot be upheld as the main cause for these adaptations. Influential factors like SES, sexuality, political affiliation are likely to influence these adaptive changes within children, who are known to likely conform to their environments (SAMHSA, 2014).

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APS 8 IWA 7 Thus, as adolescents are in the midst of the developmental stage where their thoughts and perceptions gradually change, their neural sensitivity in regards to racism invokes the urge to conform to parental or peer-reviewed values. These values may be racially discriminating and hold adolescents accountable for their perceptions if they were to resist, rather than conform. Additionally, the pressurizing nature of racism has a hold over the majority of adolescents, which forces them into racial conformity. Although racial conformity may be the main cause of restriction in cultural identity, other factors play a larger role in development such as socio- economic status, political affiliation, or sexuality. \

APS 8 IWA 8 Works Cited: Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US). Improving Cultural Competence. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2014. (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 59.) Exhibit 2-1, Stages of Racial and Cultural Identity Development. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK248422/table/ch2.t1/ Cherry, Kendra. “Why Do We Try so Hard to Be like Other People and Conform?” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 26 Mar. 2020, https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-conformity- 2795889 . Destin, Mesmin, et al. “Status-Based Identity: A Conceptual Approach Integrating the Social Psychological Study of Socioeconomic Status and Identity.” Perspectives on Psychological Science , vol. 12, no. 2, Mar. 2017, pp. 270–289, doi: 10.1177/1745691616664424 . Do, K. T., McCormick, E. M., & Telzer, E. H. (2020). Neural sensitivity to conflicting attitudes supports greater conformity toward positive over negative influence in early adolescence. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 45, 100837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100837 Iwamoto, Derek Kenji, and William Ming Liu. “The impact of racial identity, ethnic identity, asian values and race-related stress on Asian Americans and Asian international college students'

APS 8 IWA 9 psychological well-being.” Journal of counseling psychology vol. 57,1 (2010): 79-91. doi:10.1037/a0017393. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2854415/ McLeod, S. A. (2008). Prejudice and discrimination. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/prejudice.html Knoll, Lisa J et al. “Social influence on risk perception during adolescence.” Psychological science vol. 26,5 (2015): 583-92. doi:10.1177/0956797615569578. Kreaps, D. Conformity and Race. 11 Mar. 2015, https://oaks.kent.edu/node/5244 . Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. New York : Mariner Books, 2004. Pachter, Lee M, and Cynthia García Coll. “Racism and child health: a review of the literature and future directions.” Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBP vol. 30,3 (2009): 255-63. doi:10.1097/DBP.0b013e3181a7ed5a. Services, ER. “Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies.” 8.1 Foundations of Culture and Identity | Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies , University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Edition, 2016. This Edition Adapted from a Work Originally Produced in 2013 by a Publisher Who Has Requested That It Not Receive Attribution., 29 Sept. 2016, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny- realworldcomm/chapter/8-1-foundations-of-culture-and-identity/ .

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