What Is Herd Mentality/ Peer Pressure?

We have often heard of this term - peer pressure. Peer pressure seems to be something very unique, very strong and inevitable. It is mostly experienced in colleges and at the workplace, i.e. in less controlled environments.
So what is peer pressure? It is the pressure to conform to the collective lifestyle/ideas of a randomly selected group. It can range from very silly things such as everyone in a "group" being obliged to wear the same colour clothes on a particular day, by "consensus", to something as serious as committing murder/ indulging in drug trafficking.

But colleges and workplaces are not the only havens of "peer pressure". Homes are too. With home comes family. Many families make society. Apparently the society, by "consensus" again, establishes for itself some standards of how to live, called "values". These values are considered virtually sacrosanct in the sense that anyone contradicting them is liable for ostracism. Over time these values change, but every change is resisted by a majority of the society.

It is important to realize that even this kind of pressure to conform is "peer pressure" of a kind. In better terms, it is herd mentality. Everyone wants to be like everyone else because no one wishes to be ostracized. Everyone also thinks everyone else would disapprove if they did something out of the common, so they avoid doing it. Most of the elements in a modern society profess to be "moderate" in their worldview themselves, but explain that they have to pay heed to "social reputation/pressure" and thus follow the rigid path.

This is an ironic situation, and would be funny if it were not so omnipresent and serious. This is the exact definition of "herd mentality". People behave like each other, and pressurize others, or those they have control over, to behave like them, so as not to offend "society". The funny part of the matter is, if most people in a society conform only out of pressure, where does the pressure actually originate from? Where is the source of these "common shared values?"

Quite simply, the ideologies of a society are NOT formed by majority opinion. Those who create social values are mostly either intellectuals, or motivated classes. They are never the masses, in any case. Masses are of two types - those whose lives have to remain subservient because of their poverty/powerlessness, and those who choose to remain subservient to some ideology because they seek "acceptance".

In other words, social norms are created by a select few, and given the aura of sanctity, so that they are acceptable to most people. Typically, the people who create these norms hold considerable influence in the hearts and minds of the general populace, due to one reason or the other.

Thus it can be concluded that peer pressure/social obligation is nothing but a farce. It is an illusion that is widely perceived to be real. It is brought about by consistently fooling oneself and others.

This does not imply that having values in life is naturally undesirable. But there is an exigent necessity to keep questioning so-called "social norms" and to express, and let others express, individuality. Living in a semi-monolithic society is as dangerous to human welfare and self-actualization as it is ridiculous.

This also means that every human being must act in a particular way only if she/he sees merit in doing so, or enjoys doing so. This is true for each and every activity, whether it is knowledge gain, social service, or consumption of alcohol. No one "needs" to give in to social pressure, because there actually isn't anything of the sort in existence.