Social Expectation in Society

Essay by imaGe April 2007

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A superficial world, a superficial society, it is the basic entity that embraced our lives. The media has consumed us, and we acted accordingly to its demands. There is a social expectation that we all feel obliged to fulfill because if we don't, we may be patronized or be condescended upon. We live in fear on how others may criticize and depict us. Because of this, the media, our society, has the grand power of setting these guide lines of social expectations. Though we may have undergone a rigorous battle against these expectations, we ultimately failed to be victorious.

Social expectations can be rendered as a form we are all familiar with, peer pressure. We do not need someone to tell us how to act or dress, but we observed how others performed. We then noticed how we begin to act or dress like the others did. I believe the idea of social expectation is evident between a New Yorker and a Californian. Despite the fact that they do speak the same language, their style of language is different. Certain style of speech or phrases that are used by a New Yorker would puzzle the Californian and vice versa. The social expectations within these two people and their separate societies influenced them to act the way they did.

Langston Hughes was a victim of social expectation. He was told by his elders that everyone would be able to feel the essence of Jesus in their bodies and be "saved" once they are placed on the mourner's bench. Upon arriving at the mourner's bench, he realized that he had felt nothing while others claimed that they felt Jesus. This was a ceremony and Hughes was the last child on the bench. The vivacious music played, while others urged him to...